DESPITE signing peace accord with the Kano State Police Command to maintain peace before, during and after the Appeal Court verdict on the governorship election, stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and those of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) have fixed street demonstration on same day – Saturday.
News Point Nigeria reports that this is as a result of the judgement of the Appeal Court which sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and declared candidate of the APC, Dr. Nasir Yusuf Gawuna, as winner of the March 18 election in the state.
This newspaper reports that the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Usaini Gumel, while addressing journalists at the Police Command Headquarters in Bompai last Thursday, said the Force had drawn up modalities that would promote peace and harmony in the state before, during and after the verdict.
Gumel, who spoke in company with other heads of security agencies, added that that the command had concluded all security arrangements to ensure peace.
The two political parties, NNPP and the APC, were represented at the meeting by Vice Chairman of the NNPP, Wada Ibrahim and Secretary of the APC, Ibrahim Sarina.
“Both parties have agreed on ensuring that peace and calmness are sustained before, during and after the declaration of the Appeal Court judgement.
“We have also received assurances from the two political party’s leaders that they will pass the message down to their followers and loyalists,” Gumel said.
But 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, he 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 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 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.”