The crowd at the Abuja event
BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
As Rabiu Kwankwaso , former governor of Kano State declared his presidential ambition to a tumultuous crowd in Abuja Wednesday some thousands of people who claimed to be his supporters in Kano decamped from his party. The people comprising mostly members of the state branch of the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycles and Tricycles Owners, Repairers and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN), declared their allegiance to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
They were received at the Sani Abacha Indoor Stadium in Kano by Abdullahi Abbas, chairman of APC in the state. The party chairman told the new members: “Kano state is firmly under the control of our great party, All Progressives Congress (APC). With this new development also, it shows the glaring weaknesses of all other political parties answering the name of opposition parties in the state.”
He restated the promise of Governor Umar Ganduje to deliver huge votes to President Muhammadu Buhari at the polls next year. Hear him:
“Today, we are reassuring all those who care to listen, that, the over 5 million votes we promise to give President Muhammadu Buhari during the next year’s general election, is indeed feasible. These young people, who decamped to the ruling APC, promised to also work tirelessly for the victory of our party at all levels, come 2019″.
The new members had burnt their red caps, an insignia of the Kwankwasiyya political movement led by Kwankwaso.
While Abbas and two members of Ganduje’s cabinet were receiving those who turned their back against the former Kano state governor, he was addressing a tumultuous crowd at the Chida Hotel, Utako , Abuja. He had earlier been denied the use of the Eagle Square, a public facility, one week after he had paid for it. The management claimed that being a work day and the facility being within the same vicinity as the federal secretariat, Mr Kwankwaso’s political event will obstruct ‘work flow’.
Following public reaction to the denial, the APC had gone to town to disagree with attempts to blame it and its government for the decision of the management, which is an agency of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
Then the Kano event happened, as if to counter the declaration in Abuja. Usama Dalla, speaking for the defectors said it was clear that the influence of Mr. Kwankwaso was diminishing with the frequent loss of followers. He also said that the fact that the former governor could not hold his declaration rally in Kano lends credence to his waning political influence even at his base.
The former governor recently announced his change of platform from the APC to the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP. It is however not clear if the people moved with him then from APC. And if they decamped with him then, why within a short time they suddenly realised that the earlier decision was wrong.