A scary knife-edge tension is building in Kano city as the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) prepare to show numerical strength and flex political muscle in the ancient city on Saturday, the 27th of November, 2023.
Residents of the city are scared stiff over the impending events of both parties which have fixed street demonstrations for the same day.
Recall that the Appeal Court sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and declared candidate of the APC, Dr. Nasir Yusuf Gawuna winner of the March 18 election in the state.
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.”
The Police Command in Kano State, on Wednesday arrested seven people protesting the Appeal Court judgment which removed Abba-Kabir Yusuf as governor of the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a large group of people took to the streets of Kano on Wednesday calling for a review of the court judgment.
The police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Hussaini Gumel, told NAN in a telephone interview that the seven protesters were arrested around Kano line while heading to State House road.
“We have succeeded in preventing the protesters and we have arrested seven of them.
“We have deployed armed policemen to the area; we have since commenced intensive investigation and we will update you in due course,” Gumel said.
He urged residents to go about their lawful businesses as the police along with other security agencies had taken security measures to prevent a reoccurrence.
“I am appealing to the residents not to hesitate to report to the nearest security outfits any person or group of people engaged in any form of protest in and outside the metropolis for prompt action.”
The NNPP, it would be recalled, said that the contradiction in the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Appeal Court ruling in Kano State governorship election dispute was beyond a clerical one, as claimed by the Registrar of the court.
Arguing that words in the CTC cannot be recalled for correction, the NNPP urged the National Judicial Council (NJC) and other stakeholders in the judiciary to pick interest in the matter.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, the party’s National Secretary, Dipo Olayoku, said: “If at the point of delivering the judgement, there was a pronouncement that our Appeal failed but the CTC of the same judgement in its conclusive findings actually resolved all the issues in our favour, and even awarded costs in our favour against the APC, this is definitely is a riddle.
“This is not just a mistake that can merely be “corrected” by the Court of Appeal as it does not fall within the ambit of the “Slip Rule” where a Court can recall the document and correct an error. Such errors must be so obvious that their correction cannot generate any controversy, regarding the Judgment or decision of the Court. By the same token, such errors must be of such nature that their correction would not change the substance of the Judgment or alter the clear intention of the Court.
“It is clear to us that the only conclusion that can be drawn from this judicial debacle is that the average reasonable person can only conclude that the Court of Appeal changed the judgement after they had concluded deliberations on the matter, and then mistakenly left the original conclusion during the cutting and pasting process.”
The party vowed to proceed to the Supreme Court to seek redress on all the issues including the alleged inconsistencies in the CTC.
The Appeal Court assured on Wednesday the public that the discrepancies were due to a clerical error and did not affect the substance of the court’s decision.
Chief Registrar Umar M. Bangari, Esq., who assured that the clerical error would be rectified once parties in the matter file formal applications to that effect.
He drew the attention of reporters to Order 23 Rule 4 of the Court of Appeal Handbook, which empowers the court to correct any clerical error once detected by the court or any of the parties in the matter.
“Contrary to insinuations, the judgment of the court remains valid,” he said.
In Wednesday’s massive protest in Kano, protesters blocked major roads. and set set residents on edge.
● Additional reports by NAN and Daily Trust.