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ANPP moves to crush PDP in Kano
POISED to subdue what remains of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Governor Ibrahim Shekarau-led administration of Kano State has just appointed caretaker committees with members drawn from his ruling All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) to administer Kabo, Kiru and Madobi Councils of the state for the next six months.
Twice, the Alhaji Ahmed Durbunde-led Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) postponed election into the councils over fears of a possible clash between supporters of the ANPP and PDP.
With the exception of the three councils, the ANPP swept 35 of the 41 council seats during the March 27 nation-wide council polls.
The defeat suffered by the PDP came barely few months after it lost the control of Kano State during the 2003 general polls.
PDP big-wigs who appeared not to be contented with winning six council seats had accused KANSIEC of conniving with the ruling ANPP to deny them of wining more seats, including the remaining three during the March election.
Although the PDP chieftains led by the immediate past governor of the state and now Minister of Defence, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso appeared to have accepted the outcome of the last March poll; there are signs that they are no longer ready to concede the remaining three councils which they believe are their stronghold to the ANPP.
Madobi's case is instructive because it is the home council of the minister of defence. The outcome of the council poll is of strategic and psychological importance to Kwankwaso and PDP supporters on the one hand and Governor Shekarau and ANPP supporters on the other.
Though Kwankwaso have been maintaining sealed lips on the conduct of his successor, he remains the rallying point of supporters of the PDP in the state. Whenever he appears at public functions in Kano, he is surrounded by scores of supporters, a scenario advanced by Shekarau for the cancellation of the council polls last March.
Kwankwaso demonstrated his hold on the party recently as he was said to have secured the entire board positions meant for the state and then distributed them to his allies. The development further pitted him against Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, one of the leaders of the tripod groups that coalesced to form the PDP in Kano in 1999.
PDP supporters believe that if the ANPP sweeps Madobi, it amounts to a slap on not only the PDP in Kano but on Kwankwaso and whatever remains of his political ambition within the party ahead the 2007 general election.
Alhaji Kawo Gurjiya, a campaign director of President Olusegun Obasanjo during the last presidential poll remarked that the PDP supporters would not relent in their effort to secure Madobi and the remaining two councils for strategic reasons.
"We can never allow the ANPP to repeat the rigging that took place last March, in Madobi, Kabo and Kiru. This time around, we are ready to do anything to protect our votes and win the seats for PDP.
"We need the seats, especially the one of Madobi because the Minister is from there. An attempt by the ANPP to win in Madobi is like spitting on the face of whatever remains of the political ambition of the minister and even our party."
Gurjiya who is a staunch supporter of the Defence Minister was among PDP supporters who visited KANSIEC headquarters demanding a reversal of the list of the electoral officials that would have handled the election.
Ganduje had led hundreds of PDP supporters to KANSIEC headquarters hours to the reschedule election to express misgivings over the conduct of KANSIEC, a development that led to the cancellation of the poll after an emergency security meeting convened by the governor.
The protest followed belief among supporters of the PDP that the polling officials on the KANSIEC list were hand-picked members of ANPP resident in the Kano metropolis, a notion that is at variance with an arrangement which presupposes that both parties should have a say on the selection of the polling officials.
The Guardian learnt that part of the agreement entails that each party should submit its own list of officials who must be indigenes of the respective councils.
Gurjiya who enjoined the governor to be mindful of the conduct of his party faithful, remarked that the entire PDP supporters were perplexed on noticing a different list few hours to the election.
But Shekarau's Political Adviser, Alhaji Haruna Ahmed Danzogo, who faulted the claim wondered why the PDP was afraid of going to the election that has been planned to be conducted under a free and fair atmosphere.
Describing as a ruse claims by the PDP that there was indeed an arrangement between the ANPP and PDP to appoint polling officials; he asserted that KANSIEC remains the only lawful body mandated to appoint polling officials for the three councils.
Danzago, therefore, accused the PDP of plotting to destabilise the ANPP administration under the pretext of striving to ensure a free and fair election in the three councils.
Indeed, a member of the House of Representatives, Kano Sumaila, corroborated the views saying it was part of the grand design by the PDP to create a chaotic situation which could force the president to declare a state of emergency in Kano State, a view that has been faulted by Gurjiya.
According to Gurjiya: "If they are saying that we want to cause chaos, why did you think we first reported the matter to the state director of the SSS and the commissioner of police before going to KANSIEC. We did not molest anybody nor destroy any KANSIEC property."
In spite of the denial, The Guardian learnt that the decision to postpone the polls was reached after security reports indicated that no fewer than 500 heavily armed thugs were hired by the PDP chieftains for the purpose of the polls if KANSIEC had gone ahead to conduct the election.
Apparently to spite members of the PDP, members of the caretaker committees to man the three councils were those that would have contested on the platform of the ANPP if the poll had taken place. A relative of the Defence Minister is in charge of the caretaker committee of Madobi, while Alhaji Rabiu Sule Garo and Alhaji Aliyu Datti Yako were appointed to lead the committees of Kabo and Kiru Councils.
At a swearing-in ceremony earlier in the week, the governor in a speech defended the postponement of election in the three councils on two separate occasion, saying it was aimed at averting bloodshed: "I want to make it crystal-clear that in the eyes of this government, election into the three councils, or any election for that matter, is not worth one human life.
"Government would therefore, not venture into an election, or any other business that would render the lives and property of its peace-loving people vulnerable to handful miscreants."
Shekarau, who appears to be keen on taking all precautionary measures to avert another mayhem in Kano went on: "As the new elections were scheduled against Tuesday, August 24, 2004, the people of Kano State woke up on Monday, August 23 to the nightmare of a few disgruntled chauvinists besieging the secretariat of KANSIEC, forcibly and selfishly demanding for a reversal of arrangements that took five months to produce.
"Given their level of education, their political awareness and their status in the society, everybody expected that this group would be civilised enough to employ lawful means to make their complaints known.
"We expected them to go the courts of law for any arrangement put in place that they suspected to be detrimental to their positions, instead of employing thuggery and threats to the Electoral Commission. This, no doubt, was a puncture to our collective efforts to lay solid foundation for a sound democratic rule in Kano, and in Nigeria."
To the opposition, he warned that the era of condoning acts that could breach public peace were over: "Democracy is all about the rule of law. The conduct of elections in Nigeria is governed by predetermined laws that all and sundry must give-in to. Responsible citizens, therefore, are expected to refer to these codes of law to make their grievances known.
"No Nigerian is above the law. No Nigerian should take the law into his own hands. No Nigerian is beyond the reach of the long arm of justice.
"I am compelled to, at this point, acknowledge and share with you the indisputable and no longer classified fact that there exist some discontented individuals and groups, within and outside Kano State that are bent to make Kano State under our stewardship ungovernable.
"They portray Kano in bad light by taking advantage of every opportunity to create unrest, and engineer violent disturbances amongst the people. To these lots, I have a message: "As we step out of the first year of our tenure, I warn you that the period of turning deaf ears and the days of leniency are over.
"We shall henceforth employ every constitutional means to deal decisively with any individual or group that threatens the peace of the state."
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