Court Rules Over Lamido’s Banishment from Kano
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Court Rules Over Lamido’s Banishment from Kano
By Alabidun Shuaib Abdulrahman
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the dethroned Emir of Kano, had a reprieve on Tuesday when a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered his banishment from Kano and forced relocation to Awe in Nasarawa State to be unconstitutional and a violation of his fundamental human rights.
Delivering her judgment, Justice Anwuli Chikere held that the manner Sanusi was forcefully removed from the palace in March 2020 after his dethronement and taken by security operatives on the directive of the Kano State government to Nasarawa State against his will was a vicious violation of his rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement.
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The Emirate Council Law 2019, under which the Kano State administration claimed to have acted, was pronounced nullity by the judge, concluding that as a Nigerian citizen who had committed no crime, Sanusi was entitled to remain in any part of the country.
Justice Chikere, therefore, awarded N10 milion damages against the Kano State Government, the Inspector General of Police and the Department of State Services.
She also ordered them to tender public apology to Sanusi in at least, two national dailies.
Although the Attorney Genera of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), was joined as the fourth respondent, Justice Chikere excluded the AGF from the suit on the grounds that the applicant failed to establish his case against him.
