Emir Sanusi breaks silence on 2019 general elections

Muhammadu Sanusi II, emir of Kano, said he has resolved to avoid political and economic controversies in the aftermath of the 2019 elections.

According to PUNCH, Sanusi spoke during a dinner organised to celebrate the 125th anniversary of First Bank, on Tuesday.

The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) prayed for the government to envisage long-term plans of about 125 years and not four years for the country.

He urged the government to be more committed to girl-child education.

“My new post-election resolution is to avoid controversies; economics, politics,” Sanusi was quoted to have said.

“My prayer is that with these elections, the government would not think of these four years, but the government would think of Nigeria 125 years from now.”

The religious ruler has been involved in some controversies during his time as CBN governor and as an emir.

In February, Sanusi left tongues wagging when he made a statement interpreted by some to mean his endorsement of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as his preferred candidate for the presidential election.

“It is not always easy to have a leader who has both integrity and capacity to govern – two important qualities of a leader. If a leader does not have both integrity and capacity to govern, choose the one that has the capacity to govern because his capacity to govern will benefit the people while his lack of integrity will be his own harm. If you choose a man who has integrity without capacity to govern, his lack of capacity to govern will harm the people while his integrity will only benefit himself,” he had said.