Kano crisis: Tension builds as APC dares NNPP, holds rally Saturday

Kano State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has announced its decision to hold a political rally on Saturday.

It could be recalled that the ruling New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the State had earlier announced that it would hold a rally on the same day.

Recall that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja last week sacked Abba Yusuf as the governor of Kano State.

However, Yusuf had rejected the tribunal verdict, which he described as “unfair” and “a miscarriage of justice”, and headed to the appeal court.

Surprisingly, the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement revealed that the verdict was given in favour of Yusuf

Following the controversy created by the CTC, the Appeal Court Wednesday said it stood by the judgement it gave, maintaining that it sacked Yusuf.

But addressing a press conference on behalf of Kano APC stakeholders at the national secretariat in Abuja, the Director General, Garo Campaign Organisation, Rabiu Bichi, said they would hold a rally on Saturday.

Asked if there won’t be a clash between APC and NNPP, Bichi noted Kano is big and assured that there won’t be any clash.

Bichi said: “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 called 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.

“In defence of democracy and peace in the state, we are holding a rally on Saturday in Kano.”

Bichi noted that since the conduct of the 2023 governorship election and the declaration of NNPP as the winner, the ruling APC as a peace-loving party remained calm and shunned any form of violence.

He said the APC as a party promoting the cause of democracy and the rule of law, rejected the outcome of the election and sought to reclaim its mandate through the appropriate channel as laid down in the Electoral Act and the Constitution of Nigeria.

Bichi stressed that after filing its case at the state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that sat in Kano, the APC patiently pursued it for months up to the pronouncement of the stage where the three-man panel of judges fixed the date for the judgement.

He stated: “However, sensing defeat, the NNPP resorted to threatening to kill the judges of the tribunal should the verdict of the court eventually be announced and not in their favour.

“The threats by the NNPP government’s cabinet members included among others, the Secretary to the Kano State Government, Baffa Bichi, forced the tribunal to deliver its judgement via Zoom for fear of their lives.”

Bichi added that things appeared 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.

He claimed that at the end of the meeting, “they came up with line up of activities that included unleashing of violence to not only eliminate the APC in Kano but also to make it ungovernable in the event of a Supreme Court judgement in favour of the APC.”