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THE MAN WHO ENGINEERED ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE GOVERNOR OF KANO STATE NOW RELEASED By Maiduguri Road Kano
As part of the ongoing organized violence and political assassinations in Nigeria on Friday March 26, 2004, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau the Governor of Kano State was attacked by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporters led by a member of the Federal House of Representatives. Many opponents of the PDP have been killed in the past. Some of its members who also want to be independent of the party rogues have also been killed. Some state governors have been attacked, one of them had to hire private security men to defend his life which is under constant threat.
On Thursday March 25, 2004, the minister of defense who was defeated in a landslide by the incumbent governor of Kano State vowed publicly in a rally that they must take over power at the local government councils by all means including violence. The following day one of his cronies who is also a member of the House of Representatives organized over forty vehicles and some of the thugs were well armed and they attacked the governor’s convoy who, were coming from Gaya. The policemen who were with the governor did their utmost best to secure his life. And in the fracas the parliamentarian who was commanding the thugs was arrested after several violent exchanges with the law enforcemen! t agents this was because he was well prepared with several arms and ammunitions in his vehicle. He remained at the scene because he had a lot of arms and his belief of immunity. Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau as a responsible leader responded to the cynical plans of the opponents of the people in a matured manner by alerting the public on the plans to militarize the society by bringing in soldiers to assist the party of the federal government. But unlike Rabiu Kwankwaso he called on the people to be law abiding by reporting any movement of troops to the police.
In a BBC Hausa interview on Sunday 28, March the man who engineered the assassination attempt claimed that the Aide de Camp (ADC) of the governor abducted him and that his thugs did not attack the governor. He also stated that the president, minister of defense and the inspector general ordered his release and that he shall seek retribution because of what the ADC did to him. This behavior is not peculiar in Nigeria. Governors from opposition parties or opposition factions are always under threats and harassments from members and agents of the federal government. There are still volatile exchanges between a former minister who is a leading member of the PDP and the governor of a state in the south who is popular in his state but at the edge in the ruling PDP. Many governors especially in the South! East now depend on private security operators known as Bakasi boys because their lives are in danger. The police assigned to them are always under pressure because they are employees of the federal government and not state employees. As the case in Kano shows the ADC wants to protect the governor but a member of the House of Representatives who was caught with arms and ammunitions and engineering the assassination of the governor publicly claimed that the president, minister of defense and the inspector general of police demanded his release. So he is now freed and wants to blackmail the ADC even though he was violent when the police arrested him. And every one knows that everywhere in the world alleged criminals could be arraigned outside and not air-conditioned rooms. If the police assigned to the governors of opposition parties try to protect they are subjected to harassment even from the president and what does one expect? Nigeria is now in serious danger because in a very dramatic twist the federal lawmakers extended their harassment to the Inspector General by calling on him to intimidate the ADC of the Kano State governor who is a police officer.
It is should recollected that most of those federal lawmakers got to the parliament through the elections rigged by the PDP hence they have remained indolent and unable to check executive excesses. The man who engineered the attempted assassination of the governor of Kano State never sponsored any motion or bill, on the floor of the house like most of his PDP counterparts from the North West. They are more interested in violence and winning elections by all means. According to BBC Hausa Service news on Monday morning 29th March 2004 another violent PDP parliamentarian from Katsina also engineered electoral violence in which a whole community was set on fire but he shame! lessly denied that he was responsible for the violence. Why is that the PDP is now so violent in Nigeria and these representatives are more concerned about inflicting more harm on their people than emancipating them? It is rather tragic that a man who engineered attempted assassination of a popularly elected governor will receive the commendation of parliamentarians. What manner of democracy are the national parliamentarians trying to build?
But there are signs of hope. The BBC Hausa Service reported in the morning of Thursday April 1, 2004 that there was bi-partisan consensus in the Kano State House of Assembly with the active participation of the PDP members. These democrats called on the members of the national parliament to discipline their colleague who engineered the attempted assassination of the Governor of Kano State. They also called on the Inspector General of Police to conduct proper investigation. And above all as democrats they called on the constituents of the parliamentarian to exercise their democratic rights by recalling the unruly politician. A PDP member of the state house of assembly also spoke passionately in the BBC program against political violence and the need for a bi-partisan and society oriented approach. This is becau! se the negative fall outs of political violence are detrimental to the flourishing of democracy and peaceful co-existence. This shows that even within the PDP there are members who believe in peaceful co-existence and non-violent resolutions of differences.
April 2004
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