By our reporter
Kano State government has given its own perspective to yesterday’s Appeal Court verdict on the Kano Emirship tussle.
The government insisted that its appointee, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, remains the 16th Emir of Kano.
State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General (AG), Barrister Haruna Isa Dederi, told newsmen that the ruling of the Appeal Court in Abuja on the dispute has not at all voided Muhammadu Sanusi II’s status as Emir.
He said: “Having passed a landmark verdict on January 10, 2025, 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.”
On January 10, 2025, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal in Abuja led by Justice Mohammad Mustapha, had thrown out the judgment of Justice A. Liman of Federal High Court, Kano, which nullified 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.
Unhappy with the judgment, Alhaji Aminu Baba DanAgundi, one of the kingmakers,but loyal to another claimant to the throne and 15th Emir, Alhaji Aminu Bayero, approached the Supreme Court to reverse the Appeal Court verdict.
DanAgundi also filed a motion for stay of execution of Justice Mustapha’s judgment pending the hearing and determination of the Supreme Court judgment on the matter.
Yesterday’s Appeal Court ruling was a favourable verdict on Dan Agundi’s application for stay of execution.
The Commissioner described the matter as “functus officio”, stressing that only the apex court is empowered to jettison the January 10, 2025, decision of the Appeal Court given by Justice Mustapha.
Functus officio is the rule that once an appeal has been filed, the trial court loses jurisdiction over the case, at least as to the issues being appealed, and may not enter any further orders as to those matters.
Legal experts hold that “as a general rule, once a party gives notice of appeal, such appeal divests the trial court of its jurisdiction, and the trial judge becomes functus officio.”
Dederi added: “The Appeal Court today, after hearing their application for a stay of execution, ruled that the 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 standing and 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.”
