The atmosphere in Kano State is tense after leaders of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) fixed street demonstrations for Saturday.
The ruling party and APC had fixed the protest following the judgement of the Appeal Court which sacked the state Governor, Abba Yusuf.
The court had declared the candidate of the APC, Nasir Gawuna, as the winner of the March 18 election in the state.
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, while addressing newsmen on Thursday at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, said while the NNPP would be staging a mass protest in Kano on Saturday, the APC would organise a mass rally same day.
Recall that the appeal court on Wednesday insisted that Governor Yusuf was sacked, following controversies that trailed the release of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement which indicated in one part that Yusuf won the appeal.
Bichi said the information available to them showed that NNPP stakeholders fixed a mass protest for Saturday after meeting with their leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
He, however, insisted that APC stakeholders would also hold a mass rally the same day in Kano, in support of the party’s candidate.
When asked to explain why the APC would hold a mass rally on Saturday when it was already established that the NNPP would be staging a mass protest in Kano, Bichi said, “We are also going for a mass rally on Saturday as part of democracy.”
Answering a question on the likely outbreak of violence, 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.
“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.
“We have it from reliable sources that they are planning a mass protest on Saturday. It is on this note that we call on 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.
“However, the people of Kano have been living in perpetual fear of intimidation and threat to life and property, since the assumption of office, starting with the orgy of violence by elements of the NNPP, targeted at APC.”
