Banishment: Sanusi’s Suit For Judgment Nov 30

By Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

• Kano, DSS urge court to dismiss case

The Federal High Court in Abuja will on November 30 deliver judgment on a suit by deposed Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, challenging his banishment to Awe in Nasarawa State.

Sanusi was deposed after a resolution by the Kano State Executive Council on March 9, 2020, for alleged insubordination.

He was confined to Nasarawa until his release on March 13, 2020, following an interim order by Justice Anwuli Chikere of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Justice Chikere fixed November 30 after entertaining the final arguments from lawyers representing parties in the fundamental rights enforcement suit.

Respondents in the suit are the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), the Attorney-General of Kano State and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

Sanusi’s lead counsel, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), told the court that the case was not a chieftaincy matter because his client was not challenging his deposition.

The lawyer said his client’s complaint was about the way he was shabbily treated after his deposition.

Mahmoud faulted the respondents’ challenge to the Abuja court’s jurisdiction to hear the case, arguing that no law supports the position that where rights violation occurs across several jurisdictions, one cannot approach a court in any of the jurisdictions.

The lawyer also argued that from the way his client was treated, his rights were violated, and he ought to seek protection through the court.

He urged the court to grant all the reliefs the ex-Emir sought in the suit.

But lawyer to the IGP, Victor Okoye, faulted the competence of the suit and queried the court’s jurisdiction to hear it.

He noted that the instrument conveying the ex-Emir’s banishment was authored and endorsed by an official of the Kano State government in the state.

The lawyer averred that the appropriate venue for Sanusi to seek redress for the alleged violation of his rights was a court in Kano State.

Okoye urged the court to either strike out the case or dismiss it.

Lawyer to SSS DG, Godwin Agbadua, also challenged the court’s jurisdiction.

The lawyer urged the court to strike out the suit because the alleged rights violation occurred in Kano, adding that there was a Federal High Court in Kano before which Sanusi could seek redress.

“Where there is infringement in sequence, the court with jurisdiction is that where the alleged infringement commenced, which by the applicant’s affidavit, is Kano and there is a Federal High Court in Kano,” he added.

Lawyer to Kano State Attorney-General, Musa Mohammed (the Director of Civil Litigation of the state’s Ministry of Justice), also faulted the competence of the suit and the jurisdiction of the court in Abuja to hear the case.

Mohammed prayed the court to dismiss the suit.