The Emir of Kano

Griots play music at the emir’s palace during Ramadan in Kano.

People walk outside the Emir of Zaria’s palace in Zaria.

The Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II receives visitors before saying a prayer for them at the emir’s palace in Kano.

Men stand outside the Emir of Zaria’s palace in Zaria.

A servant, cast in yellow light, stands in the courtyard of the emir’s palace in Kano.

A police officer talks on his phone outside the Emir of Zaria’s palace in Zaria.

A servant poses for a photograph in the courtyard of the emir’s palace in Kano.

A volunteer poses for a photograph at the Grand Mosque after a daily Ramadan Tafsir session in Kaduna.

The Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II poses for a photograph at the palace in Kano.

A crier in the royal court poses for a photograph in the courtyard of the emir’s palace in Kano.

Women attend an Islamic school in Kaduna.

The Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II listens to religious figures read the Koran during an evening Ramadan Tafsir at the Emir’s palace in Kano.

Less than a year ago, the most colourful item in Lamido Sanusi’s wardrobe was one of the bow-ties he wore with a pinstripe suit.His coronation as the Emir of Kano means that the former governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank now has a work uniform that consists of a long flowing gown, a white veil to cover his face and shoes of black feathers,

Taking the name Muhammadu Sanusi II, the 14th Emir of Kano now lives in an ancient walled city in northern Nigeria. The emirate is the last vestige of the Caliphate of Sokoto, a huge Islamic empire that included 30 emirates and a population estimated at 10 million in what is now Cameron, Burkina Faso, Niger and northern Nigeria.

The Caliphate crumbled under an invasion by British imperial forces, with the last vizier surrendering in 1903. Britain allowed Kano and its emir to remain under their rule, with the city still remaining an important religious centre.

The current emir is the great nephew of the previous ruler, and was crowned in June. A controversial figure in Nigerian politics, he was suspended as governor of the central bank in February after exposing an alleged US$20 billion fraud committed by associates of the country’s president, Goodluck Jonathan that involved the national oil company. In an attempt at reconciliation, President Jonathan met Sanusi for the first time since the emir’s coronation to mark the end of Ramadan. Despite the ancient traditions and trappings of office, the new emir faces some very modern problems. The Islamist group Boko Haram is active in the area and attempted to assassinate Sanusi’s predecessor in January, killing four body guards.

Last month he was forced to cancel Eid festivities after a church was bombed and a failed attack by a female suicide bomber on a university.

Text by National editor James Langton

Photos by Joe Penney / Reuters