Nigeria's emir of Kano dethroned for 'disrespect'

 The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, one of Nigeria's most influential Muslim traditional leaders, has been removed from his throne.

He was deposed for showing "insubordination'' to the authorities in the northern state of Kano.

Mr Sanusi, an ex-central bank chief, has had frosty relations with Kano Governor Abdullahi Ganduje since 2017.

His supporters believe he was sacked for opposing Mr Ganduje's re-election last year.

Traditional leaders in Nigeria hold few constitutional powers but are able to exert significant influence as they are seen as custodians of both religion and tradition.

Mr Sanusi was seen as a reformist and had been critical of some government policies - a stance that frequently put him at loggerheads with ruling politicians, reports the BBC's Nigeria reporter Ishaq Khalid.

The emir has been removed from the palace in the city of Kano by security forces. It is not clear where he has been taken, but by tradition he will be expected to live in exile outside the emirate for the rest of his life, our reporter says.

Aminu Ado Bayero, the son of Mr Sanusi's predecessor who ruled Kano for more than half a century until his death in 2014, has been chosen as the new emir by the local authorities.

Why was he sacked?

The government said he was removed "in order to safeguard the sanctity, culture, tradition, religion and prestige of the Kano emirate", accusing the emir of "total disrespect" of institutions and the governor's office.

Since the emir and governor fell out, Mr Sanusi has not attended state functions and official meetings, which the government said amounted to "total insubordination".

The emir's refusal to appear before a panel investigating allegations of corruption against him also did not go down well with the government.

He is accused of selling property and mismanaging emirati funds but he secured a court order stopping the probe.

After last year's election, Mr Ganduje, who is a powerful figure within Nigeria's governing All Progressives Congress (APC) party, split the Kano emirate into five and appointed four more emirs - to weaken Mr Sanusi's influence.

Mr Sanusi is not shy about voicing his opinions, which some say is a break with the tradition that an emir be seen and not heard.

Last month, he said fathers who sent their children out to beg for alms should be arrested.

In the past he criticised what he described as the "ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam" in some parts of northern Nigeria that has discouraged the education of girls, family planning and other progressive policies.

Who is Mr Sanusi?

Born into the Fulani royal family, Lamido Sanusi became the 14th Emir of Kano in 2014 after the death of Ado Bayero.

He described the post, which carries enormous weight among Nigeria's northern Muslims, as a life-long ambition.

In the mid-1990s he quit a well-paid job as banking risk manager to deepen his knowledge of Arabic and Islamic studies by going to study in Sudan.

Long before he became emir, he opposed the adoption of Islamic law in some northern states, arguing that there were more pressing issues that needed to be dealt with.

But it was as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria that he gained notoriety.

His whistle-blowing over $20bn (£12bn) allegedly missing from the state oil company caused a storm that led to his suspension by then President Goodluck Jonathan. The government denied that any money was missing.

Mr Sanusi challenged the suspension in court but was still sacked from the role. He later withdrew the court case.

Critics say he has a holier-than-thou attitude and have wondered why he refused to appear before the panel investigating corruption allegations against him.

BBC

Related story: Former Nigeria Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi comments on audit that proves missing $18.5 billion

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Nigeria is already dealing with a deadlier viral outbreak than the coronavirus epidemic

The detection of Covid-19 coronavirus in Nigeria raised early concerns about the country’s capacity to handle a major epidemic but so far local public health officials have been commended for handling the outbreak with aplomb.

But the coronavirus is not the only viral outbreak in Africa’s most populous country. Nigeria is currently dealing with what is turning out to be the world’s largest epidemic of Lassa fever, a viral disease deadlier than coronavirus.

Lassa fever is a severe viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) like Ebola and Marburg that occurs throughout the year in Nigeria and was declared an “active outbreak” by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) five weeks into 2020. The epidemic which occurs during the annual dry season (roughly November through March) has spread across half the country.

The Lassa fever virus is transmitted to humans through contact with food or household items contaminated with urine and feces of a rat. It’s also known to spreads from person-to-person through contact with the body fluids and organs of infected persons, which has resulted in healthcare workers easily getting infected, some have died.

The epidemic, whose rapid escalation started right from the second week of the year, had by the end of the ninth week seen 774 cases and 132 deaths spread across 26 of Nigeria’s 36 states and the federal capital territory.

Troubling trends

In the past five years, there have been four epidemics—all having over 59% of total cases—in the first quarter of the year. In just nine weeks into 2020 Lassa fever cases are already 96% of total cases in 2019, the year with the largest Lassa epidemic with 810 cases and 167 deaths. As recently as 2015, the total number of cases was 64. This trend does not only suggest that the current epidemic will likely surpass that of 2019, but it also suggests a longer lasting and more devastating epidemic.

Arenaviruses, which include the Lassa virus, are disproportionately prone to genetic mutations and have a propensity for spread if not adequately controlled, says Dr Olubusuyi Moses Adewumi, a specialist in Arenaviruses and Virologist at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan in southwest Nigeria.

Dr. Adewumi blames the rapid increase of the epidemic each year on the lack of an effective surveillance system in place to identify and monitor the circulation of the virus in the country via rodents and other animals. “In our environment, the vectors continue to have the opportunity to interact with the human population and consequently spread the virus unchecked”, he explains.

Lassa fever is known to have a high mortality rate with Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) as high as 23% recorded for the first quarter of 2019—far deadlier than the Covid-19 coronavirus which currently has an estimated CFR of 2%.

Before the emergence of the new coronavirus, the NCDC has been focused mainly on Lassa fever. However, tweets from the NCDC’s twitter handle suggests recent online publicity is focused more on the coronavirus epidemic despite the reports of an unprecedented Lassa fever epidemic in the country.

“The international health agency and media deserve to give more attention to coronavirus considering its propensity for a pandemic,” says Dr. Adewumi. “LFV is our local problem in this part of the continent, hence, it is our responsibility to ensure the epidemic is controlled,” he said.

By Uwagbale Edward-Ekpu

Quartz 

Nigeria has second confirmed coronavirus case - health minister

Nigeria has a second confirmed coronavirus case, the country's health minister said on Twitter on Monday.

The first case was an Italian man who flew in to southwestern commercial capital Lagos on Feb. 24 from Milan on a Turkish Airlines flight that had a connection in Istanbul. The following day he travelled to neighbouring Ogun state and was in the country for nearly two full days before being isolated.

The case, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, prompted fears of an outbreak in Lagos, a city of 20 million people in a country of some 200 million inhabitants. But until Monday it was the only confirmed case in a country that won plaudits for preventing a major outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in 2014.

Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said the second case had been in contact with the Italian man, who is a vendor working for cement company Lafarge Africa PLC and is being treated at a hospital in the Yaba dristict of Lagos.

The Lagos state health commissioner, Akin Abayomi, said on Saturday Nigerian officials were experiencing "some challenges" in tracking down people who were on the flight with the Italian.

(Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram; Additional reporting by Libby George; Editing by Alison Williams)

Nasdaq

Nigeria releases 223 children cleared of suspected ties with armed groups

At least 223 children, including 10 girls, have recently been cleared of suspected ties with armed groups in Nigeria, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.

The children were released late Tuesday from the Nigerian army administrative custody and Maiduguri Maximum Security Prison in the northeastern part of Nigeria, said Peter Hawkins, the UNICEF Representative in Nigeria.

Some of the children had been missing for up to four to five years, with many presumed dead by their families, according to Hawkins.

"The release of these children is a huge step forward and one to be welcomed and celebrated," the UNICEF official said.

The children will now immediately enter a program that will help them reintegrate into their communities, re-engage with families, and take the first steps toward creating a new life and means of livelihood, he said.

"These children deserve to have a normal childhood and now require our full care and support to re-enter the lives that were so brutally interrupted by this devastating conflict," he added.

Since 2016, about 3,559 people associated with armed groups had been released from administrative custody, including 1,743 children, or 1,125 boys and 618 girls, according to official data by the UNICEF.

UNICEF is working closely with Nigerian state authorities to help with reintegration programs for all children formerly associated with non-state armed groups, and others affected by the ongoing conflict in Nigeria's northeast region, said Hawkins.

Xinhua

Six killed in attack on Nigeria military base

Armed assailants killed four police officers and two civilian militiamen in an attack on a military base in northeast Nigeria's Borno state on Wednesday.

Suspected Boko Haram fighters in trucks fitted with machine guns launched the dawn raid on the army base in the town of Damboa, sparking intense fighting.

"We lost four mobile policemen and two civilian militia fighting alongside soldiers during the fight with the terrorists," said a military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Anti-armed group leader Ibrahim Liman confirmed the death toll, after supporting soldiers during the attack.

Local resident Modu Malari said the assailants attacked with assault weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, but were forced out from the town by troops after a fierce two-hour battle.

More than 50 residents were wounded by shrapnel from grenades fired by the rebels, he said.

Damboa lies on the fringe of Boko Haram's Sambisa Forest stronghold, from where the group has launched repeated attacks on villages and military posts.

In November last year, at least 10 Nigerian soldiers were killed and nine injured in a Boko Haram ambush in Muchima village, outside Damboa.

Boko Haram's campaign began in 2009 and has displaced more than 2.2 million people across Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon since, with no signs of slowing down despite counterattacks by a joint multinational force across borders.

Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), a Boko Haram faction, has also gone on a spree of violence, attacking military formations in those countries.

In Mali and Burkina Faso, groups such as the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin have followed suit, killing thousands of people in recent years.

Al Jazeera