By Ozumi Abdul
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has accused the Governor Abdullahi Ganduje led Kano state government of planning to disrupt and cause mayhem in the next Saturday’s gubernatorial and state assembly elections.
The main opposition party made the accusations on Monday during a press conference in its Kano Secretariat.
In a press statement delivered by Dr Baffa Bichi, he said that despite the fact that the last presidential and national assembly elections failed to meet the minimal expectations of an average Nigerian, that it’s is disheartening to discover that some unpatriotic,undisciplined, and heartless politicians within the ruling party in Kano State are still scheming to cause even more mayhem during the forthcoming gubernatorial and state assembly elections,with the intent of not only disrupting them but also killing even more people in addition to the over twenty persons they killed in Tudun Wada, Takai, Makoda, Gwale and Rogo local governments, to mention but a few.
He claimed that his party is in possession of intelligent information regarding the plans of the state government to perpetrate violence and disrupt the election hoping to generate the infamous 2019 scenario, adding that it is important to state that the very persons that entered the collation centre in Nasarawa Local Government, and physically destroyed election results in 2019 are the same people that are now rewarded with the gubernatorial tickets of the APC in 2023.
Dr Baffa then called on President Muhammadu Buhari, and the concerned authorities to prevail on the issue to prevent the repeat of 2019 gubernatorial election in the state so as not to compromise the fledgling peace being enjoyed in Kano.
THE FULL TEXT OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE
The first leg of the 2023 general elections was conducted on February 25, 2023.
The exercise drew wide spread condemnation from all opposition parties, all local and international election observers, and majority of Nigerians because it
has not only fallen short of the barest minimum expectations of Nigerians but also characterized by scandalous election malpractices, unfulfilled promises by INEC, deliberate violations of the electoral act, unprecedented violence and mischief with the connivance and support of some law enforcement agents, as
well as the failures of both the BVAS machines and the iReV server.
While the wound inflicted on the body polity of the Nigerian state as a results of the failings of INEC and law enforcement agencies is still very fresh, while the
victims of the election violence are still being mourned and many are being attended to at different hospitals around the country, while the international
uproar against the election is still at its highest pitch, and while the fragile unity
of our country has never been so threatened, some unpatriotic, undisciplined, and heartless politicians within the ruling party in Kano State are still scheming to cause even more mayhem during the forthcoming gubernatorial elections
with the intent of not only disrupting it but also killing even more people in addition to the over twenty persons they killed in Tudun Wada, Takai, Makoda,
Gwale and Rogo local governments, to mention but a few.
We are in possession of credible information regarding the plans being hatched by Gov. Ganduje and his cohorts to perpetrate violence and disrupt the election hoping to generate the infamous 2019 scenario. It is important to state that the very persons that entered the collation centre in Nasarawa Local Government
and physically destroyed election results in 2019 are the same people that are now rewarded with the gubernatorial tickets of the APC in 2023.
We are therefore writing to draw the attention of the President Commander-in Chief and indeed all the authorities concerned to be in full knowledge of these
ungodly plans and to take every necessary actions to ensure the protection of
lives and properties, to ensure the peaceful and credible conduct of elections, and to ensure that the brewing crisis in Kano State is averted and Ganduje and
his collaborators are not allowed to kill even more innocent citizens because of their desperation to cling to power.
Please find below the deviously immoral arrangements being made by the Kano
State government:
1. Hired Bandits Across the State: We are aware that thousands of bandits from Chad and Niger republics as well as from Katsina and Kaduna states have been hired and brought into Kano state by the Gandujiya administration to be used to disrupt the elections. The DSS and the Nigerian Police are aware of this. These bandits, brandishing heavy weapons including guns and machetes, are already in different locations
across the 44 local government councils. Nigerian government and indeed all Nigerians should be aware that for any breach of the peace on Election day, governor Ganduje and his gang including the Kano Director of the DSS (who ought to have retired from the service over a year ago) must be
held personally responsible.
Law enforcement agents must be proactive
in taming this unfortunate menace and averting this senseless disaster that is being planned against the good people of Kano State.
It is also worthy of note to inform you that Mr. Ganduje has granted
pardon to a number of convicted murderers who were sentenced to
death by competent courts of law. Only late last year he commuted the death sentences of these murderers to life imprisonment and last week he granted pardon to all of them. A typical example is the notorious Mohammed Abbas with prison number K/35C/2008 who was serving his
sentence at MSCC Minna New. We are raising this, because we are aware
that Kano State government has raised a team of government officials to travel to the correctional facilities where these murderers are serving their sentences to collect them, return them to Kano to join the gangs of bandits with the intention of terrorizing the good people of Kano and disrupting the conduct of the March 11, 2023 elections.
Organized Delays of Sensitive Materials: As they did during the
Presidential and National Assembly elections, the Ganduje group is
colluding with bad eggs within INEC and their accomplices among some law enforcement agents to cause a long delay in the distribution of election materials to polling units. This shameless act is intended to ensure that majority of voters are disenfranchised. And the ring leader at INEC that is anchoring every nefarious plan of Gandujiya to subvert the
will of the people is the Commission’s State Admin Secretary, one Mr.
Garba Lawan, who ought to have retired from service months ago, but
Mr. Ganduje bribed his way to get him retained illegally so that they can
use him, as they did in 2019, to steal the election in Kano state. We are also aware that local government chairmen in all the 44 local government
councils in the state have already convened a meeting with all ad hoc staff of INEC in their local governments with the sole intention of
compromising them. Among the instructions given to these ad hoc staff.
include:
a. Delaying the election process in whatever way possible;
b. Deliberate disruption of the BVAS machine and making
accreditation impossible in targeted polling units;
c. Destroying results sheets in PUs that the ruling party is losing;
d. Ensuring that used ballots are smuggled into the boxes to ensure
over-voting and cancellation in all our strongholds; and
e. Ensuring that no result is posted to the iReV server by any presiding
officer.
Already large sum of money in foreign currency was advanced to the ad hoc staff that attended the meetings to share as part payment with a promise to give them allocations of land at the end of the exercise.
And the sum of N20,000.00 is being transferred to the accounts of many ad
hoc staff allegedly from the Kano state government. We are therefore calling on both INEC and international election observer missions to be in
full knowledge of this reprehensible arrangement as well as putting all INEC ad hoc staff on their toes through close monitoring of their activities.
3. Planned Disruption of Collation Centres: Arrangement have already been completed between the ruling party in Kano and some compromised law
enforcement agents as well as some ad hoc staff of INEC to ensure that collation centres are disrupted and results are destroyed.
This is something that they did in 2019 and also in February 25, 2023. The world should know that wherever collation is disrupted, it is with the consent, support and cooperation of law enforcement agents and the express connivance of the state Admin secretary of INEC. A number of local
governments have been penciled down by these merchants of mischief to be targeted for destruction of results by breaking ballot boxes, disrupting collation and destroying result sheets. The main objective is to ensure that the election is made inconclusive and Kano gubernatorial election is made off-season when they think they can use Federal might to impose
themselves on the good people of the state. Let it be on record that we
will never again, allow any individuals or groups of discredited and
unpopular politicians, no matter how highly placed they are, to come and
abuse the very transient trust placed in their hands and cause the breach of the peace in our dear state. We will never allow anyone to steal the peoples’ mandate again. We will never spare anyone that cause the killing
and maiming of innocent citizens in our state again. We are appealing to Mr. President to call these desperate politicians in Kano and their collaborators in Abuja to order.
4. Compromising Law Enforcement Agencies: Being one of the most corrupt public officers in the country, Mr. Ganduje has gone very far in
compromising some law enforcement agents, especially the Kano director of the DSS (who we also believe is doing the biddings of his bosses in Abuja). The partisan role that some of them played in the February 25, 2023 in some local government areas in the state is exactly what he wants them to repeat in the forthcoming election. We are aware that he is facing some resistance from some of the heads of the agencies in Kano and he has rushed to Abuja to meet with their bosses. We are also aware that the
Director of the DSS in Kano who also operates as the state chairman of Gandujiya has vowed never to allow any party other than the ruling party to win the gubernatorial race in Kano.
The grandeur display of partisanship by the DSS in the February 25, 2023 election leaves no one in doubt that the threat by the Kano director is indeed very serious. It is
especially important to place on record that all attempts by Ganduje to
compromise the Inspector General of Police has failed. We wish to commend the IGP’s patriotism and professionalism and his non-partisan disposition so far. We wish to draw the attention of the international
election observer missions to focus their radar on Kano especially on the role being played by the DSS in Kano. We are also calling on Mr. President to call the DSS in Kano to order.
5. Massive Vote Buying and Voter Intimidation: In spite of the Naira swap
policy which the government claimed was intended to end the culture of vote-buying, there is no gainsaying that the 2023 general election was
among the worst in terms of vote-buying. While the volume of cash being used to bribe voters has reduced, the quantum of other truckloads of essential commodities that was used openly, at polling units, to bribe
voters was unprecedented in the history of elections in Nigeria. In almost
every electoral ward in Kano state, merchants of corruption and bribe
were busy all day and all nights! Truckloads of raw food items, truckloads
of fabrics, truckloads of toiletries etc. were seen everywhere and being
used shamelessly by the ruling party to bribe voters and compromise the election. We are aware that they have concluded plans to repeat the same
infamy at even greater scale on March 11, 2023. While we believe that
the good people of Kano state will not sell their conscience for any
pittance that Kano state administration is doling out, we wish to call on all anti-corruption agencies to be more vigilant and ensure that this dangerous corruption is not allowed unchecked and unpunished.
We make haste to add that if nothing is done to stop this, we will call on
members of public to help themselves with these commodities wherever they see them, as we believe that the items being used to bribe voters are proceeds of outright theft and corruption as well as diverted Covid19
relief materials that ought to have been distributed as palliatives years ago.
6. Selective Arrest and Intimidation of NNPP Leaders: It is important to inform the President and indeed all Nigerians, and to request the
Commander-in-Chief to intervene and call the heads of law enforcement
agencies to stop playing into the hands of Mr. Ganduje by doing his
biddings of arresting our leaders. Lists of our party leaders and activists have been drawn and some are already being harassed by DPOs and
heads of DSS in their local governments. We will not sit idle and watch as Ganduje administration turns the Police and DSS into Gandujiya militia to harass, intimidate and arrest our party faithfulsfor no reason whatsoever.
Our tolerance level is being over-stretched. The Federal Government
needs to ensure that a level playing field is ensured for all.
7. Dragging/Dropping the Names of the President, Members of his Family,
and his Aids: Few days ago, Mr. Ganduje and his cronies were in Abuja
going from pillar to post, meeting with heads of security agencies and
other top government functionaries all in the name of “directives from the presidency”, and sadly, this blatant lie is being given credence by some members of the extended family of Mr. President who are accompanying
Ganduje to every office as “messengers of the president”. Dropping the
name of Mr. President to scare the heads of security agencies into doing the biddings of Gandujiyya is the peak of shameless opportunism. The same Ganduje that has been on air abusing, ridiculing and debasing the person and the office of the President and Commander-in-Chief is today being aided and abetted by not only heads of security agencies but also
by some members of the family of the president.
Conclusion
Gentlemen of the Press, it was George Washington who said:
“… if the laws are to be so trampled upon with impunity, and a minority is to dictate to the majority, … ,nothing but anarchy and confusion is to be expected thereafter.”
In Kano state, we will never again, allow the peoples’ mandate to be stolen. They have stolen it in 2019. We restrained our supporters and stopped them from
taking to streets to protest. This time around it will be very difficult to restrain our supporters, again.
We dare say that any law enforcement agent and any INEC staff, ad hoc or not, that will do their work patriotically and professionally without compromising or
colluding with Gandujiyya to subvert the peoples mandate is surely a blessing to
the good people of Kano state. We make haste to add that anybody that is
coming to Kano state to cause mischief and attempt to tamper with election results, will be on their own.
The Kano NNPP is fully ready. We must, and we will, protect the mandate of the
people at all cost.
We pray that Mr. President will make public pronouncement and instruct the
law enforcement agencies and all other stakeholders concerned to maintain
their neutrality at all levels as well as cautioning them against doing the biddings
of any politicians.
While thanking the members of the fourth estate of the realm for the balanced
coverage of political events and activities in the state, we urge you to remain the conscience of the society and provide news and stories that will help in ensuring
unity, peace and successful conduct of the general elections.
Thank you for your patience.
Long lived the federal republic of Nigeria!
