By Mustapha Usman
The embattled emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, is paying himself an average of N12million monthly salary from the First Bank account of the Kano Emirate Council, exclusive documents obtained by DAILY NIGERIAN showed.
The emirate council’s accounts came under public scrutiny, following DAILY NIGERIAN report detailing the multi-billion naira expenditures of the emirate under Mr Sanusi.
Multiple palace sources and bank insiders said the emirate deliberately coded the emir’s salary as “NEFT: NEFT” (National Electronic Funds Transfer) or “IN-HOUSE TRSF” in the bank statement in order not to reveal the actual salary of the emir.
Palace sources and account records also show that Mr Sanusi’s predecessor, Ado Bayero, was paying himself an average of N1.5million, but the current emir increased it to an average of N12million monthly.
Although the emirate council had on Monday confirmed that its wage bill at a point reached N36million, it is silent on how much the emir earns from the amount monthly.
According to the exclusive documents, at time the monthly salary bill of the council hit N23million, the emir was already earning N12million per month.
In January 2014 (during Ado Bayero’s reign), the salary bill of the council members and palace aides was N7,271,903.22, while the emir’s salary, coded “NEFT:NEFT” was N1,582,280.03. This payment trend continued till his death on June 6, 2014.
When Mr Sanusi came on board, the same trend continued until September 2014 when the emirate council approved a new salary structure, with the workers earning a total of N17,078,441.56 and the emir earning N5,679,212.86.
In the month of October 2014, the salary bill of staff was increased N18,845,145.46, while the emir’s salary became almost tripled. The staff salary bill, without the emir’s salary, at a point reached up to N23million.
However, Mr Sanusi started earning an average of N12million monthly from October 2014 to March 2017, smiling home with about N350million in two and half years.
This is aside spending over N37million on Airtel bill, tens of millions of naira on local and foreign travels, hotel bills, among others, in less than three years.
When contacted for comment, the councillor in charge of the emirate finances, Mahe Wali, neither disputed nor agreed with the figures, saying he could not give the figures off hand.
The Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission last week launched probe into the emirate council’s account.
