IGP Asks Court To Dismiss Dethrone Sanusi's Suit
The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a suit filed by the deposed Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, challenging his banishment
The Kano State Government had on March 9, 2020, deposed Sanusi after which security agents moved him to Abuja and was later banished to Awe, Nasarawa State, where he was detained in a private home until March 13 when he obtained an interim order of the court for his release from house arrest.
In his preliminary objection, the IGP argued that the court lack jurisdiction to hear the suit.
The IGP, however, contended that the rights violation complained of by Sanusi followed his dethronement which took place in Kano, which he argued ought to be the appropriate venue to file the suit and not Abuja.
“The alleged infringement of the fundamental right of the applicant in this suit(Sanusi) is only ancillary to the dethronement of the applicant as the Emir of Kano, which is a matter within the jurisdiction of the High Court of a state.
“It is crystal clear from all the processes filed by the applicants that the facts gave rise to this case arose from Kano State, where the applicant was dethroned as Emir and flown to Abuja enroute Nasarawa State.
“It’s our submission that coming into Abuja was only as a mere passage to their actual destination, which is Nasarawa State, and as such, Abuja cannot, by any stretch of reasoning, be said to be the place where the infringement occurred,” he said.
The IGP added that the dethronement which led to his banishment was a chieftaincy matter that only State high court and not Federal High Court had jurisdiction to hear.
But Sanusi, through his lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), in a counter-affidvat, faulted the IGP’s contention insisting that his suit was not about his dethronement but his family’s forceful ejection from the palace and their banishment from Kano and subsequent confinement.
He argued that his infringement of his fundamental rights was not limited to Kano but was a continuous process that spanned three territories -Kano, Abuja and Nasarawa.
“The nucleus or gravemen of the applicant’s complaints is centrally on the violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights and there’s no or any other complaints thereein.
“The claim of the applicant, as presently constituted, does not have any colouration of chieftaincy matter as alleged by the first respondent. The applicant is not challenging his deposition in this case,” Fagbemi argued.
Justice Chikere has fixed October 20 for hearing
