The Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission has invited Muhammad Sanusi, the emir of Kano, according to sources.
The commission asked Sanusi to appear before it on Thursday to further answer questions over alleged misappropriation of N3.4 billion by the Kano emirate council under his watch.
A palace source said that the emir received an invitation letter from the anti-graft commission.
When asked whether Sanusi would honour the invitation, the source said: “That I may not confirm to you, but you know that Emir Sanusi is a law-abiding citizen.”
Confirming the invitation, a top official of the commission said the monarch was given 24 hours to appear before the agency.
“I can assure you that there is no going back on the probe against him and the emirate council,” the official, who did not want to be named, said.
Kano state assembly had earlier set up a panel to probe the monarch following two petitions against him. The panel was asked to report back within one week.
Sanusi has been having a running battle with Abdullahi Ganduje, the governor, who created four more emirates in Kano “to whittle down the influence of the emir”, according to sources.
There are reports that Sanusi worked against the reelection of Ganduje.
The latest move to probe the emir comes two weeks after a federal high court in Kano dismissed the preliminary report of the state anti-graft agency which recommended the suspension of Sanusi, pending investigations into alleged financial misappropriation of the emirate’s funds.
O. A. Egwuatu, the presiding judge, had held that the commission did not give the emir an opportunity to be heard before releasing the report on him, adding that such an omission was against the principle of fair hearing.
The emir had asked the court to declare that the findings of the commission contained in its preliminary report issued on June 6, 2019, were a breach of his fundamental right to fair hearing and contrary to the rules of natural justice.
