A library belonging to the deposed emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, has been evacuated from the palace.
Sanusi’s principal private secretary, Mujtaba Abba, told Daily Nigerian that the library contained over 40,000 books and journals.
He said they had been taken to a safe location within Kano while Sanusi is away on exile in Nasarawa.
“His Highness’ greatest concern was the fate of his books, so my sister and I stayed behind to ensure that we evacuated all the books. It took us sleepless nights to accomplish the task in two days,” he was quoted saying.
“I made most of the transactions for the purchase of the books, and I can tell you, in conservative estimate, they are worth over N200 million.”
Abba also revealed that Sanusi took only one horse out of his equestrian treasure and left the remaining to his successor, Aminu Ado Bayero.
British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, visited the library in February when she led a delegation of the Nigeria office of the UK Department for International Development to Kano.
In a tweet, the high commissioner expressed amazement at the library, wondering if Sanusi had read all the books in it.
