Former Kano State Governor, Engr. Dr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, has mocked the 15th Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, describing him as a “fake emir.”
Kwankwaso made this remark on Saturday during the 4th convocation ceremony of Skyline University, held at the Amani Event Centre in Kano.
The former governor, while addressing dignitaries and graduating students, insisted that only Emir Muhammad Sanusi II is recognised by the people and government of Kano State, adding that anyone else parading himself as emir is “fake.”
He recalled that Aminu Ado Bayero is not the only person to assume himself as an emir in Kano, narrating how, in the 1970s, a mentally challenged man used to wear heavy royal clothes and move around the Kofar Nasarawa area.
According to him, people would greet the man as if he were an emir, a situation he compared to the current emirship dispute in the state.
The lingering crisis in the Kano Emirate began in 2019 when the state government split the historic emirate into five, reducing the authority of Emir Muhammad Sanusi II.
In 2020, Sanusi was dethroned and replaced by Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero.
However, the NNPP-led government in 2023 reversed the decision and reinstated Sanusi II, sparking a renewed tussle over the royal throne.
The controversy remains unresolved, with both parties claiming legitimacy.
Kwankwaso, a key political figure in the state, reiterated at the event that Sanusi II remains the only authentic emir recognised by the state government “not any appointee fron Abuja”.
