6 hours Ago By Guardian Nigeria
• Appellate Court Didn’t Quash Verdict, Kano Attorney General Explains In a fresh twist to the Kano Emirate dispute, the Court of Appeal in Abuja has restrained the enforcement of its January 10 judgment that upheld the Kano State government’s repeal of the 2019 Emirate Council Law pending the determination of an appeal at the Supreme Court. However, the Kano State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Haruna Isa Dederi, has clarified that the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, has not invalidated the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as 16th emir. Dederi stated that having delivered the January 10 judgment that reaffirmed the power of the Kano State government to reappoint Sanusi, it is impossible for the Court of Appeal to set aside or quash its own decision on the same matter.
Recall that the Court of Appeal in Kano has set aside the June 20 order by Justice Abubakar Liman of the Federal High Court, Kano, nullifying the steps/actions taken by the Kano State government pursuant to the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Law 2024, including the appointment of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the 16th Emir of Kano. The Court of Appeal, Kano, which sat in Abuja, held that the order nullifying the steps taken by the Kano State government pursuant to the 2024 Emirates Council Law was made by Justice Liman without jurisdiction. Dissatisfied with the judgment, the Kano State government appealed to the Supreme Court and subsequently filed an injunction at the Court of Appeal, urging the court to stay execution of the judgment pending the determination of the appeal at the Supreme Court.
Ruling on the injunction on Friday by a three-member panel of justices led by Justice Okon Abang in two suits marked CA/KN/27M/2025 and CA/KN/28M/2025, filed by Alhaji Aminu Babba Dan, the court held that the application was meritorious and deserving of the its discretion in the interest of justice. “The law is settled. The court is enjoined to exercise its discretion judiciously and in the interest of justice,” he said.
Justice Abang, in granting the injunction, emphasised that the applicant’s process was competent and had met all the necessary legal conditions required to obtain the relief sought. He noted that a valid appeal was already pending before the Supreme Court, reinforcing the need to preserve the subject matter of the litigation. The Court of Appeal also acknowledged the applicant’s legal right to protection, considering that he had served as Emir for five years before his removal.
“In my view, I hold that the balance of convenience lies in his favour. It is deserving to protect him pending the determination of the Supreme Court,” Abang ruled. The court restrained the respondents from enforcing the January 10 judgment that nullified the Kano State government’s dissolution of the emirates.
It also granted an order maintaining the status quo until the Supreme Court renders a final decision. Dederi made his position known while reacting to the ruling, explaining that the matter is functua officio. He added that only the Supreme Court has the power to set aside the decision of the Appeal Court handed by Justice Mohammad Mustapha on January 10, 2025.
“The Appeal Court today, after hearing their application for stay of execution, ruled that status quo should rather be maintained as it is now, until after the judgment of the Supreme Court. They have filed an appeal at the Supreme Court. “It doesn’t mean that the judgment delivered on January 10, 2025, has been quashed.
That judgment is still in place and subsisting. The Court of Appeal cannot reverse its own decision. It is not possible.
It is only a Supreme Court that has the power to set aside the judgment given by a lower court. “So, the Court of Appeal, Abuja, today has just said that execution of the judgment has been stayed pending the outcome of the appeal which has been filed at the Supreme Court by Aminu Baba DanAgundi on behalf of Bayero,” Dederi noted..
