Kano residents panic as APC set for mass rally today

• NNPP denies plan to stage counter-rally
• Yoruba community seeks Tinubu, Obasanjo’s intervention
• Handle Kano security situation as expected, IGP orders CP

The All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders in Kano have announced plans to stage a mass rally in the state on Saturday, creating panic among residents.

The rally, it was gathered, was conceived to counter an alleged planned rally by the ruling New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).

But the NNPP chairman in the state, Hashim Dungurawa, told Daily Trust that there is no truth to the reports that his party was planning to carry out a mass rally on Saturday or any other day, calling on security agencies to ensure nothing is allowed to jeopardise the peace being enjoyed in the state.

Stakeholders of APC, who addressed journalists in Abuja on Thursday, had said they learnt that NNPP was planning to stage a rally and that they (APC) have also decided to have a solidarity rally for Nasir Yusuf Gawuna, the party’s candidate in the 2023 gubernatorial election, who has been declared by both the elections petition tribunal and the Appeal Court as the actual winner of the poll.

Recall that the appellate court last Friday affirmed the judgment of the tribunal which sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of NNPP. But the release of the certified true copy of the appellate court’s judgement had caused confusion with a section of it affirming Yusuf’s election. The court has since said that part was a clerical error and that the governor’s sack stands.

Addressing newsmen on Thursday at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, the Director-General of the Gawuna/Garo Campaign Organisation, Rabiu Suleiman Bichi, who led other stakeholders consisting of members of the Kano State House of Assembly, former commissioners, ex-special advisers and other stalwarts of the APC in the state, said while the NNPP would allegedly be staging a mass protest in Kano on Saturday, the APC would organise a mass rally same day.

Bichi said the information available to them showed that NNPP stakeholders were planning a mass protest on Saturday in Kano, after a meeting last Sunday, with their leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the party’s presidential candidate in the February 25 poll and former governor of the state.

He, however, insisted that APC stakeholders would also hold a mass rally the same day in Kano, in support of the party’s candidate, Dr Nasiru Gawuna.

When asked to explain why the APC would hold a mass rally on the same day NNPP reportedly planned to hold its rally, Bichi said, “We are also going for a mass rally on Saturday as part of democracy.”

Answering a question on the possible eruption of violence in the state on Saturday, he said, “We are law-abiding citizens and will not do anything to disturb peace, but we will not hesitate to protect our lives and belongings.”

Bichi said, “Things appear to be getting worse since the embattled leader of the NNPP, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, came back to Kano on Sunday, where he held a meeting of the party’s stakeholders, at the end of which they came up with lineup of activities that included unleashing of violence to not only eliminate the APC in Kano but also to make it ungovernable in the event the Supreme Court judgement is in favour of the APC.

“We have it from reliable sources that they are planning a mass protest on Saturday during which key figures of the APC will be targeted, if possible, to eliminate them.

“It is on this note that we call the Kano State police command and other security agencies to be alive to their responsibilities and take appreciative measures to avoid loss of life and property.”

But in a chat with Daily Trust, the NNPP chairman in the state, Hashim Dungurawa said the planned protest by his party and other allegations were nothing but a figment of the evil imaginations of the APC.

“Actually, if you say so (that NNPP is planning a protest for Saturday), I am hearing it for the first time. Whatever APC is saying about NNPP, they are our opposition party and they can make any allegation against us but God is a living witness that our people are peace-loving people and we have been in governance for the past six months, there was nowhere you found us wanting to do one thing or the other. We want everything to be in peace, calm and we don’t have any interest in any violence or whatever,” he said.

He continued: “This people who are accusing us it is their habit. You can cast your mind back to when the election took place in Kano when they announced Abba Kabir as the winner, the government then went to major streets in Kano and destroyed the whole billboards of all the parties.

“We don’t want that kind of unwanted thing; we are law-abiding citizens and we have no reason why to protest.

“We are willing and ready to take whatever that the outcome of this judgement will be but we know the Supreme Court is the highest matured position in the judiciary. We pray that they do everything possible to make truth remain truth.”

He also called on the police and other security agencies in the state to fish out anyone planning to cause trouble in the state because “the lives and properties of all Kano people are in their hands”.

Daily Trust reliably gathered that it took a combined efforts of security agencies to stopped another planned protest in the state on Thursday.

A top security officer in the state, who asked not to be named, revealed that based on intelligence, a combined security team was dispersed to Filin Mahaha, the planned meeting point for the protesters.

“Our operatives got there as early as 7am and when the protesters came in their numbers and saw our operatives, they camped on the other side of the road but dispersed later in the afternoon around 2pm when they noticed our operatives would not yield ground,” the senior security official said.

Residents express worry of looming showdown

However, residents have been expressing concern that the planned mass rally could lead to a showdown between supporters of both parties which could further degenerate to the breakdown of law and order in the state.

Auwal Idris said, “We cannot afford any violence in Kano honestly. Look at what happened yesterday (Wednesday). It was a single clash on one street but it got the attention of the whole world.

“While we cannot conclude about the outcome of the judgement, I am just pleading with the judges to be just and fair in what they do.”

Also on his part, Sulaiman Muhammad, a resident of Hotoro said, “As if they don’t know what violence is? My biggest concern is whenever they begin exchanging words like this something is in the pipeline. They know it.

“My take here is that if they truly love Kano as they are saying, they should put aside everything and make sure it remains peaceful.”

Also, the Yoruba community in Kano has called on President Bola Tinubu, former president Olusegun Obasanjo and traditional leaders in the south west to intervene in the logjam in the state.

Alhaji Nuraddeen Yahaya, Chairman, Concerned Yoruba Community, Kano State Chapter, who addressed the media “Kano must not be allowed to erupt into such preventable chaos as it happened in the past.

“We are hereby calling on our fathers, President Bola Tinubu, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja 11, to intervene without further delay.

He said the call became imperative because the Yorubas in Kano fear “we won’t find it easy if the situation degenerates further as we actually expect that it would. The people here will believe that they were cheated on by a Yoruba President.”

IGP gives marching order to Kano CP

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has ordered the Commissioner of Police in Kano State to handle the security situation in the State “as expected” saying the force won’t condone any excuses.

Egbetokun, who spoke to Daily Trust through the spokesman of the force, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the CP can only be helped if he requests his support.