It was the founding chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie who in 2003 summarised the crisis that followed the kidnapping of Governor Chris Ngige by his erstwhile Anambra godfathers as what happens when thieves come to share their loot.

Some would, however, think it inappropriate to condense the crisis between President Bola Tinubu and his erstwhile royal enabler, Emir Muhammadu Sanusi in the same gutter context.

One can then use the phrase of the English playwright and poet, William Congreve. In his 1697 play, The Mourning Bride, he wrote that “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

Indeed, the Federal Government’s response on Thursday to the criticism of its policies by Emir Sanusi reflected the truth about the falling out between two former political lovers.

Information minister Mohammed Idris in his reaction pointed to the changed dynamics between the emir and the Tinubu government when he referred to “changed loyalties of the emir”.

He spoke against the background of the once fraternal relationship that went back two administrations and 12 years. That was when Sanusi as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN helped in damaging the Goodluck Jonathan administration with claims that turned out to be false.

The allegation that $20 billion from oil sales went missing was celebrated by the then opposition even when forensic audit showed that no money in that context was missing.

When Sanusi was fired as Central Bank governor, Lai Mohammed, spokesman of the APC claimed it was a smokescreen to cover up the ‘scandal.’

Sanusi was fired when he was attending an international conference in Niger Republic. Remarkably when he returned, he flew over Kano, his birth place, Abuja which was his residence to Lagos into the waiting hands of the opposition leaders in Lagos.

As fate would have it, within a year of his dismissal from the CBN the stool of the emir of Kano became vacant. Against the insistence of Kano kingmakers who wanted Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, pressure was mounted on the Rabiu Kwankwaso government in Kano to enthrone Sanusi.

Sanusi had been reported as having two ambitions; to be president of Nigeria and emir of Kano. The royal ambition it was claimed was his preference.

Remarkably, another man who had a similar ambition to be president of Nigeria was Bola Tinubu. It was perhaps out of wisdom that Tinubu in the heat of the intrigues to choose a new emir of Kano in 2014 relocated to Kano and pulled the levers for Sanusi.

It was politically shrewd for Tinubu to push for Sanusi to become emir; at least by that act, he had removed a possible contender for the presidency.

Even more, the emergence of Sanusi was also a way of shaming President Jonathan. The man he, Jonathan sacked had been given an even more regal position.

So when Minister Idris spoke of loyalties one could well understand the story of Sanusi and the Tinubu government.

The loyalties began to change after Kwankwaso left office. His successor, Dr Umar Ganduje on account of serial governance issues became embroiled with Emir Sanusi.

It was no secret that both men barely tolerated themselves and after his re-election as governor in 2019, the primary policy of Ganduje in government appeared to be cutting Sanusi’s wings. Indeed, even before he was sworn in for the second term, the proposal to split the Kano emirate emerged in May 2019.

That was apparently not enough. In March 2020, Governor Ganduje deposed Sanusi as the emir of Kano.

By that time, calculations for the 2023 presidential election were already well advanced. Tinubu was already building a solid relationship with Ganduje. The then Kano governor like Senator Kashim Shettima were about the most visible canvassers for the Tinubu project in the North.

It was as such not surprising that in the face of the crisis with Sanusi that Tinubu was restrained in a public reproach of Ganduje.

While Ganduje was successful in the short term in removing Sanusi as emir, his political capacity in standing up to his erstwhile political leader, Kwankwaso failed as he was unable to pass the governorship to his chosen successor in the 2023 election.

Kwankwaso’s choice, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP’s Abba Yusuf had in his election manifesto promised to restore Sanusi as emir. He promptly fulfilled his promise and in a jiffy, Sanusi was restored and the legacy of Ganduje in destroying the Kano emirate as he met it was restored.

So, given the fact that what was taken from him was restored by the NNPP it is no brainer for anyone to understand the information minister’s claim of Sanusi’s changed loyalty.

Sanusi’s change of loyalties could also be understood from the circumstances of his close friend, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the immediate past governor of Kaduna State. El-Rufai was also another person who helped Tinubu to power but who was shockingly thrown out as the government was formed.

When he was dethroned, El-Rufai was the one who travelled to Nasarawa State to bring Sanusi from the rustic confined to by Ganduje. El-Rufai  was helpful in resettling the stylish monarch to a chic life in Lagos.

Whatever, the information minister was on point on the changed loyalties. But how the changed loyalties between Sanusi and Tinubu affect the generality of Nigerians is of little essence. What was between them was a collaboration against Jonathan. When that was finished they fell apart as more personal political issues arose.