Ahead of the conduct of the Kano State House of Assembly election re-run in Minjibir, residents in the area have fled their homes, following fears that violence might mar the polls for the second time as political thugs converged on the town.
The Kano State government yesterday also said that it had uncovered a plan involving former Kano governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s hire of thugs to disrupt next Saturday’s bye-election.
The state Commissioner of Information, Youth, Sports and culture, Malam Muhammad Garba, who made the revelation in a terse statement distributed to newsmen on Wednesday in Kano, said Senator Kwankwaso and his supporters planned to unleash mayhem during the rescheduled election.
Garba alleged that information at the state government’s disposal suggested that “Kwankwaso has hired thugs from neighbouring country of Niger Republic and the states of Katsina and Jigawa to unleash mayhem on the innocent and law abiding electorate with the aim of scuttling the entire process for his selfish reasons.”
The statement added that “we have received credible information that the Kwankwasiyya group, knowing fully that their anti-party intention would fail, has resorted to hiring of thugs from the Republic of Niger and neighbouring states of Katsina and Jigawa State. We have learnt on good authority that the thugs imported are armed to the teeth.
“We want to warn that as a responsible government we will not sit down and fold our hands for some disgruntled elements to cause chaos in the state and destroy the relative peace in state. We have informed the security agencies of this nefarious plan. We will support them to protect lives and property of law abiding citizens. As a responsible government we will not be party to any process that is undemocratic and unlawful.”
The commissioner enjoined all citizens of the state, especially the people of Minjibir Local Government Area to be law abiding, urging them to go out and exercise their franchise without any fear of molestation.