Nigeria has made global headlines since April, both for the GDP recalibration that propelled it officially into position as Africa’s largest economy and for the more sinister kidnapping of 200 teenage girls by the anti-Western Boko Haram organization, based in the Muslim north.

But with Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan facing increased pressure from both domestic and international critics on a growing list of grievances, the decision to appoint Lamido Sanusi, the former governor of the Nigerian central bank, as the new emir of Kano gives one of Jonathan’s most prominent and credible opponents a new political viability. The decision comes at a time when the dominant force in Nigeria’s nascent democracy, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), is severely split over Jonathan’s reelection hopes in the coming February 2015 presidential election. 

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RELATED: Nigeria emerges as Africa’s largest economy

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So who is Sanusi? What is the Kano emirate? And why is all of this so  important to Nigeria’s future?  Continue reading Sanusi’s appointment as emir of Kano rocks Nigerian politics →