Kano crisis: APC challenges NNPP and organizes a rally on Saturday, creating tension

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Kano State chapter has declared that it will host a political rally on Saturday.

Recall that earlier in the day, the ruling New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the State had declared it would host a demonstration.

Recall that Abba Yusuf was removed from office as governor of Kano State last week by the Court of Appeal, which was seated in Abuja.

But Yusuf had already filed an appeal with the appeals court, rejecting the tribunal’s decision as “unfair” and “a miscarriage of justice”.

Remarkably, the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the decision showed that Yusuf was found to have won.

In response to the controversy sparked by the CTC, the Appeal Court affirmed on Wednesday that it was right to dismiss Yusuf and stood by its decision.

However, Director General of the Garo Campaign Organisation Rabiu Bichi announced that a rally would be held on Saturday while speaking to a press conference on behalf of Kano APC stakeholders at the national secretariat in Abuja.

When asked if the APC and NNPP would not collide, Bichi responded that Kano is a large city and gave his word that there will not be a fight.

“They are planning a mass protest on Saturday during which key figures of the APC will be targeted, if possible to eliminate them,” Bichi stated, citing credible sources.

In light of this, we have called on the Kano State police command and other security organisations to fulfil their obligations and take appropriate action to prevent the loss of life and property.

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“We are having a rally in Kano on Saturday to defend democracy and peace in the state.”

Bichi observed that the incumbent APC, a party committed to peace, has remained composed and has avoided all forms of violence since the 2023 governorship election was held and the NNPP was declared the winner.

According to him, the APC rejected the election’s results as a party that supports democracy and the rule of law and worked to regain its mandate through the legal channels specified by the Nigerian Constitution and the Electoral Act.

Bichi emphasised that the APC diligently pursued its case for months to the point where the three-member panel of judges set the date for the verdict after submitting it to the state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which was located in Kano.

“However, sensing defeat, the NNPP resorted to threatening to kill the tribunal’s judges should the court’s verdict ultimately be announced and it be against them,” the speaker said.

“The tribunal was forced to deliver its ruling via Zoom out of fear for the lives of the cabinet members of the NNPP government, including Baffa Bichi, the secretary to the Kano State government.”

Bichi continued, saying that since the NNPP’s embattled leader, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, returned to Kano on Sunday and convened a meeting of the party’s stakeholders, things seemed to be getting worse.

Afterwards, he said, “they devised a schedule of actions that included using violence to not only destroy the APC in Kano but also to render the city ungoverned in the event that the APC wins a Supreme Court ruling.”