The decision of the Kano state government to reinstate Emir Sanusi II some four years after he was dethroned has expectedly elicited diverse reactions from many Nigerians. While some looked at the subject from the cultural point of view and argued that it is in order to restore the traditional institution in its unadulterated form, others are unhappy that politicians have turned the royal throne into a chess game. So, the blame game is on.
The only group whose role I cannot but deprecate is the law-making arm of government whose members permanently position themselves to be manipulated to do wrong. To see many Kano legislators vividly rejoicing today as part of those who ensured that justice was served is annoying because many of them were part of the injustice of the past, they are supposedly correcting now.
The number of impeachment processes by which Nigerian legislators have been used to remove deputy governors are quite many but what puts Achuba’s case ahead of all is that at the end of the process, the panel set up to probe him returned a verdict of not guilty. Although the exact type of motivation could not be ascertained; the legislators ignored the positive verdict and went ahead to impeach a proven innocent citizen.
It is important to interrogate the subject properly because to only remove the speaker leaves the Assembly with a known rogue-member. It is suggested that the Assembly should get the anti-corruption agencies to prosecute the speaker. Otherwise, the 17 accusers may find themselves functioning as accuser, prosecutor and judge. However,history teaches us that the accusations may have been reversed and the speaker hailed by his accusers if he had allowed the money to be shared.