Score of members of the Hausa speaking community residing and trading in Sagamu township of Ogun State, on Tuesday, staged a peaceful protest to demand justice over the ongoing governorship election crisis in Kano State.
The protesting Northerners, most of whom were youths and children, took to the major roads of Sagamu, chanting solidarity songs and calling on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene in the matter in order to prevent a breakdown of law and order nationwide.
Armed with placards, bearing different inscriptions, the northerners in Sagamu expressed the fear that the crisis in Kano could spread to the Southern part of the country should the judiciary employ any technicality to upturn the wishes of the Kano State voters as expressed during the March 18, 2023 governorship election in the state.
While calling for justice that would bring peace, not the type that wins the war but loses the peace, the protesters said the mandate in Kano must be protected and defended from being snatched under any guise.
They, however, warned that peace may become a scarce commodity in Nigeria if nothing concrete was done urgently to arrest the situation.
Some of the inscriptions on their placards read: “Avoid bloodshed, ensure peace in Kano”; “We are safe in South, but injustice in Kano May spread Violence”; “The Kano problem may spread to South”; “No to injustice, avoid anarchy in Kano”; “We are behind our mandate in Kano”; “Justice for peace in Kano” and “No to injustice, avoid anarchy in Kano” among others.
Speaking with journalists, one of leaders of the protesters, who spoke in English language, Alhaji Nasir Seriki-Kano, said the essence of the protest was to drum it to the hearings of the federal government and other stakeholders that something unimaginable may occur should the politicians through the judiciary deploy any tactics to throw away the political wishes of the people of Kano State on the disputed governorship poll.
Nasir further explained that “we are gathered here today to tell the government that the issue in Kano State can lead to something unimaginable because we are ready to defend our mandate”.
“But those who want to manipulate our votes in Kano should know that we are watching. We demand justice for Kano; we are here in South Western Nigeria and if anything happens in Kano, it is going to spread to other parts of Nigeria. We are warning now and let the governments take note”.
The protesting Northerners, however, appealed to President Tinubu to use his position as the father of the nation to intervene and save the country from experiencing the breakdown of law and order.
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