| Royal Title: | Emir |
| Realm: | Kano |
| Coatofarms: | File:Kano_flag.svg |
| Coatofarmscaption: | 19th century flag of the Kano Emirate |
| Incumbent: | Muhammadu Sanusi II[1] [2] |
| Incumbentsince: | 23 May 2024 |
| First Monarch: | Suleiman 1805–1819 |
| Style: | His Highness |
| Appointer: | Taran Kano (Hereditary) |
| Began: | 1807 |
This is a list of rulers of Kano since the establishment of the Bagauda Dynasty in 998. The early rulers are known almost exclusively from a single source, the Kano Chronicle,[3] which was composed in the late 19th century.[4]
See main article: Bagauda Dynasty. Names and dates taken from John Stewart's African States and Rulers (1989):[5]
See main article: Kingdom of Kano.
| Name | Reign Start | Reign End | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bagauda (or Yakano) | December 999 | January 1063 | |
| 2 | Warisis (or Warisi) | January 1063 | January 1095 | |
| 3 | Gajemasu (or Gijimasu) | January 1095 | November 1133 | |
| 4 | Nawata (joint ruler with twin brother Gawata) | November 1133 | October 1135 | |
| 5 | Gawata (joint ruler with twin brother Nawata) | |||
| 6 | Yusa (or Tsaraki) | October 1135 | December 1193 | |
| 7 | Naguji | December 1193 | May 1247 | |
| 8 | Gujjua (or Gugua) | May 1247 | January 1290 | |
| 9 | Shekarau I (or Shekkarau I) | January 1290 | July 1307 | |
| 10 | Tsamiya (or Tsamia; also Barandamasu) | July 1307 | June 1343 | |
| 11 | Usmanu Zamnagawa | June 1343 | March 1349 |
See main article: Sultanate of Kano.
| Name | Reign Start | Reign End | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Yaji I | March 1349 | February 1385 | |
| 13 | Bugaya | February 1385 | December 1390 | |
| 14 | Kanejeji | December 1390 | May 1410 | |
| 15 | Umaru | May 1410 | January 1421 | |
| 16 | Dauda | January 1421 | January 1438 | |
| 17 | Abdullahi Burja | January 1438 | January 1452 | |
| 18 | Dakauta | January 1452 (One night) | ||
| 19 | Atuma | January 1452 | February 1452 | |
| 20 | Yakubu | February 1452 | September 1463 | |
| 21 | Muhammad Rumfa | September 1463 | August 1499 | |
| 22 | Abdullahi | August 1499 | May 1509 | |
| 23 | Muhammad Kisoki | May 1509 | August 1565 | |
| 24 | Yakufu | August 1565 | 1565 | |
| 26 | Abu Bakr Kado | 1565 | May 1573 | |
| 27 | Muhammad Shashere | May 1573 | January 1582 | |
| 28 | Muhammad Zaki | January 1582 | December 1618 | |
| 29 | Muhammad Nazaki | December 1618 | November 1623 | |
| 30 | Kutumbi | November 1623 | January 1648 | |
| 31 | Alhaji | January 1648 | January 1649 | |
| 32 | Shekkarau II | January 1649 | December 1651 | |
| 33 | Muhammad Kukuna | December 1651 | December 1652 | |
| 34 | Soyaki | December 1652 | ||
| – | Muhammad Kukuna (Restored) | December 1652 | September 1660 | |
| 35 | Bawa | September 1660 | 1670 | |
| 36 | Dadi | 1670 | May 1703 | |
| 37 | Muhammad Sharefa | May 1703 | July 1731 | |
| 38 | Kumbari | July 1731 | February 1743 | |
| 39 | Alhaji Kabe | February 1743 | May 1753 | |
| 40 | Yaji II | May 1753 | May 1768 | |
| 41 | Babba Zaki | May 1768 | February 1776 | |
| 42 | Dauda Abasama II | February 1776 | December 1781 | |
| 43 | Muhammad Alwali II | December 1781 | March 1805 | |
| Name | Reign Start | Reign End | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Ibrahim Dabo dan Mahmudu | 1819 | 1846 | Shehu Ibrahim Dabo from the Fulani Sullubawa clan was a mystic and scholar. He is the eponymous founder of the Dabo dynasty as the khalifa of Emir Suleiman which has ruled Kano for over two hundred years. | |
| 3 | 1846 | 1855 | Son of Dabo | ||
| 4 | Abdullahi Maje Karofi dan Dabo | 1855 | 1883 | Son of Dabo | |
| 5 | Muhammadu Bello dan Dabo | 1883 | 1893 | Son of Dabo | |
| 6 | 1893 | 1894 | |||
| 7 | Aliyu Babba dan Maje Karofi | 1894 | 1903 | Aliyu was on a visit to Sokoto in 1903 when Kano fell to the British during the Battle of Kano. Aliyu gathered his forces on a long march to retake the city but his cavalry was annihilated by the Lord Lugard at the sanguinary Battle of Kwatarkwashi. His brother Wambai Abbas was proclaimed Emir by the British and Aliyu subsequently went on a Mahdist Hijra north into the Sahara but was captured by the French and handed over to the British who exiled him to Yola and then Lokoja | |
| 8 | Muhammad Abbass dan Maje Karofi | 1903 | 1919 | First Emir to reign under the Kano Emirate Council. | |
| 9 | Usman II dan Maje Karofi | 1919 | 1926 | ||
| 10 | Abdullahi Bayero dan Abbas | 1926 | 1953 | Bayero was a scholarly-king who promoted traditional Islamic education and encouraged trade in the city-state | |
| 11 | Muhammadu Sanusi I dan Bayero | 1953 | 1963 | Sanusi I was the first Emir to be dethroned by the government | |
| 12 | Muhammad Inuwa dan Abbas | April 1963 | October 1963 | Second shortest reign after Sultan Dakauta (who reigned for one night in January 1452) | |
| 13 | Ado Bayero (San Kano) dan Abdu Bayero | 1963 | 2014 | Ado Bayero had the longest reign in the royal history of the city-state spanning over five decades. His reign started three years before the fall of the first republic and saw 14 heads of state and 17 state governors. His funeral was the largest gathering in the modern history of northern Nigeria. | |
| 14 | Muhammadu Sanusi II dan Nadawaki Aminu dan Muhammadu Sanusi I | 2014 | 2020 | Sanusi II was the first Sullubawa prince since the 19th century founding of the Dabo dynasty to become emir not through royal primogenitureship. His six-year reign marks also the first to usher in a dynastic generational-shift away from the old regime of 1903; he is the second emir to be dethroned after his grandfather Sir Sanusi I | |
| 15 | Aminu dan Ado Bayero | 2020 | 2024 | ||
| 16 | Muhammadu Sanusi II dan Nadawaki Aminu dan Muhammadu Sanusi I | 2024 | present |