BY  AbdulSalam Muhammad

KANO—The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III has intervened in the crisis between the Kano State Governor, Rabiu  Kwankwaso and the octogenarian emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero over the installation of a radical Islamic cleric as Wazirin Kano by the latter.

Bayero had last Friday in a brief but colourful ceremony turbaned the Chief Imam of Waje Central Mosque, Dr. Mohammad Nasir Mohammad as the new Wazirin Kano following the vacuum created by the death of the Alhaji Isa Waziri last year.

Vanguard investigations revealed that Kwankwaso had kicked against the appointment in response to a notice by the Emirate Council of the intended action following allegations of “impropriety against the new occupant.”

The sources claimed that, “despite serious opposition by the government to the appointment of the cleric, the Emirate Council went ahead with the turbaning ceremony as planned. The state Deputy Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje who was at the palace during the brief ceremony held a meeting with a senior councillor in the emirate and Wamban Kano in his official car for 20 minutes. Ganduje was said to have used the opportunity of the meeting to register government’s opposition to Mohammad’s appointment.’’

Government House sources also confirmed that, “a strongly worded letter where the government sought clarification for the emir’s  action as well as the reversal of the appointment was delivered to the emirate council same day.’’

However, the heat generated by the controversial installation of Dr. Mohammad attracted the intervention of the Sokoto Caliphate whose political head, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III dispatched his emissary to Kano.

Vanguard leant that the grand son of the late Sardauna of Sokoto and the Magajin Garin Sokoto, Alhaji Hassan Dan’Baba, was dispatched by the Sultan to mediate between both parties and come up with acceptable position to them.

Dan’Baba was said to have cut a deal between the feuding leaders which led to the emergency meeting of Kano Emirate Council on Monday and the unanimous decision to reverse the controversial appointment.

The Emirate Council was said to have appointed the late son of Waziri Gidado , Alhaji Sa’ad Magatakarda as the substitutive Wazirin Kano in place of the sacked Waziri.
But in a swift reaction, Dr. Mohammad said that he would rather die than leave the position.