*’I’m being persecuted for not remaining in PDP’
*Says Lamido’s selection irreversible

By Soni Daniel

Following the death of the Emir of Kano and the selection of the former Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, trouble descended on the ancient
Kingdom like a plague, forcing the new emir to operate from the Government House while security agents take over the palace.
But the state Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, in this interview defends the choice of the new emir, saying it was not influenced by any political consideration and accuses the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of instigating the violence to bring down his government. The governor also serves notice that his life is in danger and that Nigerians should know who to hold responsible if he is killed.
Excerpts:

Why did you choose His Royal Highness, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, as the Emir, of all the three names submitted to you by the four kingmakers of Kano?

You know the issue of the installation of an Emir in Kano has not happened since the appointment of the first governor of the state, Audu Bako, who was appointed in 1967. You can see that this appointment of an emir in Kano is entirely new to most of us. In fact, among the four kingmakers, who nominated Sanusi Lamido as an emir, only one participated in the selection of the late Emir, Ado Bayero. So, when I came back to Kano on Saturday since I did not want to give room for speculations and mischief-making, I decided to invite the four kingmakers and sat down with them and asked them to brief me, especially the only one who participated in the selection of the late emir. They briefed me and I asked them to go back and consult and they came back the following day on a Sunday and briefed me about their position.   Of course, when I asked them to go back and consult, mischief-makers started their mischief. Before they came on Sunday we started seeing on television and hearing on radio that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, people as a ruling party of the Federal Government decided to appoint a new emir. And that was what started the whole confusion and when my attention was drawn to it I quickly asked the commissioner for Information to ask the radio and television stations to stop the broadcast of the false and misleading announcement. We sat down with the kingmakers and from the list that we received from them, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was the best and number one on the list and from the recommendations, the governor had every reason to choose from among the list of candidates recommended. In fact, in some cases the governor has the right to reject from the list and make his own choice but in this case the kingmakers made the selection and the governor only affirmed what they did in accordance with tradition of the kingdom.

Kwankwaso

So we made our own announcement and you can see that the stage was already being set by the mischief makers under the direction of the Federal Government and at the end of the day confusion started. And the hawks that the Federal Government uses in Kano started meeting in Kano from that Sunday and they began to demonstrate, burning tyres, destroying the good work that we have done, ranging from billboards to traffic light, trees and flowers. In fact, the bridge we built was attacked. They removed so many things from the flyover we constructed. I believe that what they did is wrong. But the fact of the matter in my own opinion is that the current President…

Read Kwankwaso’s response and the full interview in tomorrow’s edition of Sunday Vanguard