Headlines
Why parents of 9 abducted Kano children deserve arrest–Emir Sanusi
By Mukhtar Yahya Usman
Emir of Kano Muhammad Sanusi II has said parents of the nine Kano children who were abducted, forcefully converted to Christianity and sold in Anambra state, deserve to be arrested by the police for criminal negligence.
Kano Focus recalls that Kano Police Command had rescued nine missing children and paraded six Igbo persons who have confessed to abducting the kids, renaming and forcefully converting them to Christianity before selling them in Onitsha, Anambra state.
Breaking his silence on the issue for the first time, Mr Sanusi said when the abductions were first reported to him at his palace, he had asked his aides to find out from the Kano Police Command if there was any law on negligence.
The Emir spoke on Saturday at the 2019 public campaign on drug abuse organized by League for Societal protection against drugs abuse (LESPADA) held in Kano.
“People are talking that Igbo kidnapped our children, yes they did, but do they enter your house and steal them? Or you left your 3-year-old child roaming the street without knowing their whereabouts until they were missing?,” he asked rhetorically.
He said it is only in Hausa land that people abandon their children to roam the streets without taking care of them and when they are kidnapped, they would blame the government instead of themselves.
“Let’s tell ourselves the truth, I could remember when the case started and complaints were filed at the palace of missing children, what I said at that time was if I am the government I would have ordered the arrest of the parents for their negligence.
“I even asked to find from the then commissioner of police if there is any law on criminal negligence. How can someone appear before the emir and say his 3-year-old or 4-year-old child was missing? Any person who comes to tell the emir that his 3-year-old child has been abducted while playing outside his house deserves to be jailed for criminal negligence,” the Emir added.
‘Go to Onitsha and try it’
Mr Sanusi, who has been criticized for being silent on the abduction saga, however said he has been in contact with his counterpart, the Obi of Onitsha since the case began.
“I was in contact with Obi of Onitsha since the beginning of the saga, and we have discussed a lot and have made progress, we know what is going on and we are following the matter” he said.
The Emir lamented that “we always blamed Igbos or Yorubas for our problems when we are the ones to blame”.
“If not go to Onitsha today and try to abduct their children. Go there and see if you will find a 3-year-old or 4-year-old child roaming the streets or begging. It is only here (in the North) that a man will stay at home and send his child to beg for money and bring it to him to feed his wife. You are expecting your child to feed you,” he said.
‘I’m used to being misquoted’
Emir Sanusi also said that even though parents of the nine rescued children should take a blame for negligence, he didn’t say kidnappers of the children are innocent.
“And I didn’t say the kidnappers are innocent because people will now say that I blamed our people for allowing their children to be kidnapped. I am used to being misquoted. I didn’t say the kidnappers should not be punished because a proverb in Hausa that ‘idan kuda yana da kwadayi to alawa ma tana da zaki’ meaning if a housefly is greedy, the candy is also sweet,” Mr Sanusi said.
“If someone comes to your state to steal your children, they won’t be able to do it unless you left the children roaming the streets. If we don’t start to admit our own faults, then we would continue to remain in despair, blaming others for our own problems,” he added.
The monarch also identified the biggest problem of a typical Hausa man as the “inability to understand love.”
“We don’t know the meaning of love. A man will marry a woman but does not know the meaning of love. A man will give birth to a child but does not know the meaning of love.
“That is why a typical Hausa man will abandon a 3-year-old child who will fall into a well and drown. How? His father will be in the farm, while his mother will be chatting with her neighbours leaving the child roaming near an open well. And when the child falls into the well and dies, you will be crying and people will be condoling you. If you really love that child, you wouldn’t have allowed them to die. So, you are responsible for your child’s death. If not a Hausa man, nobody will do this. Therefore, we the Hausas need a radical change of mindset,” he said.
In her remarks, coordinator of LESPADA Maryam Hassan lamented the deteriorating social condition of the girl-child, saying parents must admit their failure and embrace change.
She said more women and girls are into drugs misuse as a result of forced marriages or marriage pressure.
Mrs Maryam advised parents to stop forcing their children into unintended and/or unwanted marriages in order to reduce societal problems.
She also called for collaboration between LESPADA and the Kano emirate, government, security agencies, community groups as well as individuals in the fight against drug abuse.
Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim
In a bid to ensure the smooth conduct of the ongoing Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination, the Kano State Government has temporarily suspended the April 2025, End of month sanitation exercise.
KANO FOCUS reports that this decision was taken after careful consideration and consultation with relevant stakeholders, in an effort to allow students of Kano State to write their examination without any hitches.
In a statement issued by the Director Public Enlightenment of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Ismail Garba Gwammaja has quoted the Commissioner of Environment and Climate Change Dr. Dahiru M. Hashim saying that:
“The suspension is aimed at preventing any potential disruptions to the examination process and ensuring that candidates can sit for their exams without any hindrance.”
The Commissioner assured residents that the suspension is temporary for this month, and that the sanitation exercise will resume in its full force next month May 2025, in the state.
The Commissioner however, appeals to residents to cooperate with the authorities and understand the rationale behind this decision.
“We are committed to maintaining a clean and healthy environment, and we will work tirelessly to ensure that our sanitation activities do not conflict with other important events in the state,” the commissioner said.
While Commending the residents for their understanding and cooperation to the present administration, urged them to continue to avoid indiscriminate dumping of waste and cooperates with our sanitation staff to ensure clean and healthy environment always, and pray for the successful conduct of students who will sit for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim
The Kano State Chapter of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has inaugurated a security committee aimed at strengthening community-based responses to insecurity in the state and wider northern region.
KANO FOCUS reports that the committee was inaugurated on Tuesday at the ACF Secretariat by the Chairman of the ACF Board of Trustees in Kano State, Brigadier General Haliru Akilu (Rtd), who said the initiative was a strategic response to Nigeria’s growing security challenges.
Gen. Halliru Akilu inaugurating Gen. Idris Bello Dambazau while Dr Goni Faruk Umar is watching
Akilu described the committee as a platform for strategic engagement, grassroots intervention, and policy articulation to support formal security institutions.
“This committee is envisioned to serve as a fulcrum of strategic engagement and community-driven security intervention. It symbolizes our collective resolve to restore order and peace to our communities,” he said.
He noted that the committee draws membership from various security and paramilitary agencies including the NDLEA, Police, Hisbah, Civil Defence, FRSC, NAPTIP, and vigilante groups.
Gen. Halliru Akilu delivering his address
According to him, the committee is tasked with assessing the evolving security landscape in Kano and beyond, acting as a bridge between citizens and security agencies, and developing actionable, data-driven recommendations to promote peace, vigilance and resilience across ethnic, religious, and political divides.
General Akilu stressed that the committee must operate beyond bureaucratic routines and ensure its insights influence national policy. He also urged members to demonstrate integrity, confidentiality, and dedication.
Chairman of the committee, General Idris Bello Dambazau (Rtd), pledged to uphold the mandate of the committee with seriousness and discipline.
Gen. Idris Bello Dambazau (Rtd) granting interview to journalists
“We’re bringing the seriousness of military service into this assignment. Time in service is life. One minute can cost lives. That’s how seriously we’re taking this task,” he said, adding that the committee was set to begin work immediately.
On his part, the NDLEA Commander in Kano, Ahmed Idris, commended the synergy among security agencies in the state and expressed optimism that the ACF’s initiative would serve as a model for other states.
Cross section of members of the security committee
“In Kano, we’ve built a strong culture of collaboration. This committee reflects that spirit and the quality of its membership shows the seriousness of the ACF,” he said.
KANO FOCUS reports that the initiative comes as Kano and other northern states are facing security threats such as banditry, kidnapping, drug abuse, and youth radicalization. Observers say the ACF’s grassroots-focused approach could offer a much-needed complement to conventional security responses.
Gen. Halliru Akilu (rtd) inaugurating Gen. Idris Bello Dambazau (rtd)
Speakers at the event called for similar committees to be replicated across other states in the region, with hopes that the Kano model would become a blueprint for wider regional intervention.
Members of the security committee and ACF officials
General Akilu closed the event with a call for the committee to chart a new course for peace and security in the region, describing the inauguration as “a bold first step.”
Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged the Kano State Government to declare a state of emergency on polio and routine immunisation due to the resurgence of circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs) in the state.
KANO FOCUS reports that with18 polio cases recorded across nine states, including three in Kano, UNICEF Acting Chief of Field Office, Michael Banda, emphasized the need for urgent action. “Polio knows no boundaries. An outbreak anywhere threatens children everywhere,” he said.
Senior Education Manager and Officer-in-Charge, UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Michael Banda, made the revelation during a media dialogue on polio and routine immunization in Kano.
Mr Michael Banda
According to Banda, Kano accounted for three cases uncovered in Warawa, Nasarawa, and Bunkure local government areas of the state, amid zero immunization and misconceptions against the deadly infection.
cVDPV refers to a type of poliovirus that arises from the oral polio vaccine (OPV), used in the prevention of polio.
According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), on rare occasions, the weakened virus in the OPV can mutate and begin to circulate within a community, causing infections and potentially paralysis, similar to wild poliovirus.
Although Banda reminded that polio has been the leading cause of paralysis and death among children, he affirmed the disease is on the brink of eradication with vaccination of 3 billion children globally in the last 37 years.
The UNICEF boss, however, worried that the fight against polio is not over in some countries, including in Nigeria, because of low vaccination rates, thereby paving the way for polio outbreaks.
Banda explained that there is a collaboration with the Kano State Government through the Primary Health Care Management Board to broaden public knowledge on the potency of the vaccination.
He added that the media dialogue was targeted to solicit media support in raising awareness and mobilizing parents on the polio vaccination campaign in Kano ahead of World Immunization Week, beginning from 24th and 30th April 2025.
On her part, representative of Kano state Primary Healthcare Management Board, Hajiya Saadatu Ibrahim, identified challenges of hard-to-reach settlements, missing houses, zero-dose vaccination, and poor healthcare workers as major setbacks.
Hajiya Saadatu Ibrahim,
She reassured that the government has a renewed strategy to overcome the challenges, including a new method of recruiting immunization workers and the involvement of external supervisors
She said Kano State Government will immunize 4.1 million under five children.
A polio vaccination campaign is scheduled for April 24-30, 2025, coinciding with World Immunization Week. UNICEF is collaborating with the state government to raise awareness and mobilise parents.
World Bank appoints Aliko Dangote to Elite Group
UTME: Kano suspends end of month sanitation exercise
ACF inaugurates security committee in Kano
UNICEF asks Kano Govt to declare state of emergency on polio, routine immunisation
The need to restore the prestige of Kano Pillars FC
AGILE partners ICEADA in promoting girls education in 6 Kano LGAs
Book Review: Quintessential Elegance in Islamic Scholarship, Sheikh Ibrahim Khaleel
IGP Orders Kano Police to Investigate Emir Sanusi, Withdraws Invitation from Force HQ
Emir Sanusi II Calls for Justice Over Killing of Kano Indigenes in Edo
