Kano State Government had issued a query letter to the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, over the alleged financial misappropriation in his emirate.
A competent source told the media that the query was served on the emir last Wednesday.
The source further stated that the essence of writing the query to the emir was to give him fair hearing to respond to the allegations raised against him by the state anti-corruption commission.
The anti-corruption commission also had an informal meeting with emir which was reduced to an affidavit of facts, and had satisfied the commission, but upon all, the state government decided to issue a query to monarch.
It was also informed that the anti-corruption commission had insisted on suspending the emir in order to carry out its investigation successfully on the alleged financial mess.
The state government also decided to give the emir a fair hearing and issued a letter of query to him to defend himself.
It was also learnt that the state government had contacted the state anti-corruption commission for some clarification over their recommendations for the suspension of the emir, a situation which led to issuance of the query letter to the emir for his response.
The source revealed that the emir may likely be suspended after the reply of the query sent to him, adding that the emir had received it and is expected to respond in good time.
The query, according to the source, was written by the Office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) seeking clarification on the issues raised by the state anti-corruption commission.
The Chief of Staff to the Emir of Kano, Munir Sanusi, has confirmed the receipt of the query by Sanusi.
Munir, said the state government sought the response of the emir within 24 hours regarding allegations of misappropriation of funds.
“We received the query today (Thursday). The state government has demanded the response of His Highness within 24 hours. The council is studying the content,” he said.
Sanusi was alleged by the State Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission to have uncovered over N3.4 billion allegedly misappropriated by him.
The alleged amount was said to have been misappropriated between 2014 and 2017.
The anti-corruption interim report raised four cardinal issues bordering on indictments, amount involved, obstruction of investigation and recommendations.
The report indicated that the Kano Emirate Council had spent over N1.4 billion in various expenditures believed to be fraudulent and unappropriated.
In addition, the Emirate Council was alleged to have spent over N1.9 billion unappropriated on seemingly personal expenditures, making the total sum of the questionable amount.
According to the report, the expenditures contravened the provisions of Section 120 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and Section 8 of the Kano State Emirate Council Special Fund Law 2004.
Similarly, the expenditures, the commission said, had also violated Section 314 of Penal Code as well as provisions of Section 26 of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission Law 2008 (as amended).
“It is also the opinion of this commission, based on the available evidence, that Emir Sanusi II continued to undermine the investigation through various means which include giving instruction to all officers invited for clarification to shun the commission’s invitation.
“The act is seriously affecting the process of our statutory responsibility and offends the provisions of Section 25 of the commission’s enabling Law 2008 (as amended),” the report alleged.
The report, therefore, recommended that the principal suspect, Muhammadu Sanusi II, and all other suspects connected with the case be suspended, pending the final outcome of the investigations.
However, several phone calls and text messages sent to the Chairman of the state Anti-Corruption Commission, Mr Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado, was not responded.
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