Sequel to the dethronement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as Emir of Kano, one of his lawyers, Abubaka Mahmoud (SAN) has said that the dethronement is reversible in the court of law.
Mahmoud said this in an interview with Channels Television on Monday, hours after the unanimous dethronement of Sanusi by the Kano State Government led by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
He also stated that the next line of action would be determined by the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, and expressed confidence that the court would reserve his dethronement should the matter be taken to court.
“He has been in various legal tussles with the state government over the last two to three years. So, this did not come to us as a surprise. We were so much embarrassed at the manner in which it was done without giving him any fair hearing or observing any due process.
“However, the government has announced its decision dethroning him and he was this evening (Monday evening) taken into custody and flown to Abuja.
He added that “we are going to be in touch with him to discuss which line of action to take as his lawyers. And we as lawyers, of course, we believe that this action was illegal and unconstitutional. And more so, the aspect of banishment, under the constitution, nobody can be deprived of his liberty under the manner he has been deprived of his. Nevertheless, we will be in touch with him and hopefully, come up with the next line of action in due course.
“The next line of action would depend on the instruction from the Emir. There are two aspects to it – the dethronement and the banishment. We will be consulting with him.
“I had a meeting with him before he was taken to custody and at that point, he has not taken a decision on whether he is going to pursue this matter in court or not.
“Of course, we will give him time to come up with a decision on his dethronement. But as far as his liberty is concerned, we are very firmly clear that this is an illegal act and we will be considering what line of action to take hopefully by tomorrow (Tuesday) when I speak with him.”
“An action that is illegal can be reversed by the court of law and that is why we have the written constitution and courts in place. Under the constitution of the country, whenever the executive branch of government takes an action that is unconstitutional or illegal, the courts are there for all citizens to seek redress.
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“We are confident given the fact of this case that if the Emir was to challenge the action, it would be reversed because the action, in our view, is repressing and illegal,” he said