The immediate past Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has emerged the new Emir of Kano, succeeding late Ado Bayero. But his choice, considered by many as against popular opinion, has spawned riot in Kano. At the time of filing this report, anti-riot policemen were battling to quell the uprising in the state.

The Secretary to the Kano State Government, Rabi’u Sulaiman Bichi, formally announced Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the new Emir on Sunday after rounds of horse-trading and political brinkmanship.

Sanusi had earlier twitted via his twitter handle that the first son of the late Emir, Sunusi Ado Bayero, had been picked as the new Emir. But this proved to be a mere decoy as top members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) mounted pressure on Governor Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, to reverse himself after the governor had earlier picked the crown prince, Ado Bayero.

Sanusi was suspended as CBN Governor by President Goodluck Jonathan earlier in the year on allegations bothering on financial recklessness.

His installation as the new emir further cements the hold of the APC on the political structure of Kano State, a very strategic state in the north.

Sanusi was born 31 July 1961. The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria was appointed on 3 June 2009 and suspended from office by President Goodluck Jonathan on 20 February 2014. He is a career banker and ranking Fulani nobleman, and also serves as a respected Islamic scholar. The global financial intelligence magazine, The Banker, published by the Financial Times, has conferred on Sanusi two awards, the global award for Central Bank Governor of the Year, as well as for Central Bank Governor of the Year for Africa.The TIME magazine also listed Sanusi in its TIMES 100 list of most influential people of 2011.

In 1985 Sanusi joined Icon Limited (Merchant Bankers), a subsidiary of Morgan Guaranty Trust Bank of New York, and Baring Brothers of London. He moved to the United Bank for Africa in 1997 in the Credit and Risk Management Division, rising to the position of a General Manager. In September 2005, he joined the Board of First Bank of Nigeria as an Executive Director in charge of Risk and Management Control, and was appointed Group Managing Director (CEO) in January 2009. He was also the Chairman, Kakawa Discount House and sat on the Board of FBN Bank (UK) Limited. Sanusi is recognized in the banking industry for his contribution towards developing a risk management culture in Nigerian banking. First Bank is Nigeria’s oldest bank and one of the biggest financial institutions in Africa. Sanusi was the first northerner to be appointed CEO in First Bank’s history of more than a century.

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua nominated Sanusi as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria on 1 June 2009 and his appointment was confirmed by the Senate on 3 June 2009, in the middle of a global financial crisis. Analysts believed that Sanusi’s tempered mien would serve as a counterpoise to the more aloof disposition of his predecessor, Charles Chukwuma Soludo. Based on his past record, it seemed probable that as governor of the central bank he would impose stricter controls.

In August 2009, the Sanusi led the Central Bank to “rescue” Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank by bailing them out with 400 billion naira of public money, and dismissed their chief executives. Some point to other factors including religious, ethnic and existing bank records and plans to say he in fact had a hidden agenda. He said “We had to move in to send a strong signal that such recklessness on the part of bank executives will no longer be tolerated.” 16 senior bank officials faced charges that included fraud, lending to fake companies, giving loans to companies they had a personal interest in and conspiring with stockbrokers to boost share prices. In September 2009, he said that 15 of the current 24 Nigerian banks might survive reform in the banking sector.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times in December 2009, Sanusi defended the extensive reforms that he had initiated since taking office, dubbed by some as the “Sanusi tsunami”. Some believe that he had a personal vendetta against some of the bank CEOs while others point to proof of mismanagement of funds by some of the CEOs, most notably Cecelia Ibru as justification for the steps he implemented. He noted that there was no choice but to attack the many powerful and interrelated vested interests who were exploiting the financial system, and expressed his appreciation of support from the Presidency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the finance minister and others.

In January 2010, Sanusi said that banks will only want to give credit to Nigeria’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs), if the government gives adequate attention to the provision of infrastructure.[14]

In January 2010, Sanusi admitted that since 2005 the Central Bank had not conducted routine examinations of the 14 banks allocated to it under the sharing arrangement with Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). Abubakar Nagona, president of Integrated Development and Investment Service (IDIS), a venture capital investment company urged Sanusi to “not be cowed and succumb to undue pressure from operators of the same sector he is striving to bring sanity to.” At a February 2010 conference on banking in Nigeria, Sanusi described his blueprint for reforming the Nigerian financial system. He said that it was built around four pillars of enhancing the quality of banks, establishing financial stability, enabling healthy financial sector evolution and ensuring that the financial sector contributes to the real economy. Talking later that month, Sanusi said that the crash in the capital market was due to high level of financial illiteracy on the part of Nigerian investors.

The Banker unanimously recognised him as the Central Bank Governor of the Year 2010 citing his radical anti-corruption campaign aimed at saving 24 banks on the brink of collapse and pressing for the managers involved in the most blatant cases of corruption to be charged and, in the case of two senior bankers, imprisoned.

Sanusi has spoken at many distinguished events, including Warwick Economics Summit in February 2012 where he spoke about banking reforms in Nigeria and their impact on the economy