Last week, the
Court of Appeal in Abuja, in a reversal of an earlier judgment of a
Federal High Court, ruled that Lawal Jafar Isa, and not Mohammed Sani
Abacha, is the governorship candidate for Kano State of the Congress
for Progressive Change (CPC).
Before the
judgment, the CPC looked set to clinch the governorship seat of Kano
State in the wake up of the protest that greeted the outcome of the
Presidential elections.
But the ruling has
further set confusion in the party as to whether Mr. Abacha, who
insists he remains the candidate of the party, will support Mr. Isa.
NEXT gathered that
Mr. Abacha has been in talks with the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)
governorship candidate, Sagir Takai to explore ways of working together
to deny the CPC victory at the polls.
Although Mr. Abacha
has kept mum over his ambition since the Appeal court judgment,
political observers believe that it is extremely difficult for him to
support Mr. Isa.
However, a text
message in circulation on Friday reads: “Dear all, pls kindly ignore
the rumour going around. Rest assured that Mohammed Abacha is still the
CPC gubernatorial candidate. The Supreme Court gave him his mandate
this afternoon. Please come out en masse and vote for CPC (change) on
Tuesday the 26th of April.”
This SMS is an
indicator that Mr Abacha might still support Mr. Isa to win the
election. This is apparently because he can still go to the Supreme
Court to challenge the decision of the Appeal Court and probably
reclaim his mandate.
The biggest
challenge for Mr. Isa is whether he will be able to convince the
electorate within the shortest time to vote for him. He is, however
relying on the goodwill of Muhammadu Buhari, who has supported his
candidacy, to come and raise his hand before his supporters in Kano.
But if the state
Police Commissioner, Dan’Azumi Doma is anything to go by, all political
campaign activities will no longer hold until after the election, then
the scheduled visit of Mr. Buhari to Kano will not hold.
Another obstacle
for the CPC is that Mr. Abacha supporters are threatening to work
against the interest of the party. This will surely affect the fortune
of the party because of his large support base over the period he has
been campaigning to govern the state.
Aliyu Umar, a
supporter of Mr. Abacha, said his group will not support Mr. Isa
because he wanted to steal the mandate of their candidate.
“Look, everybody
knows that Muhammad is the candidate of the CPC,” he said. “Just
because some few persons don’t want him, they are now using the court
to remove him. We will see if the party will win the election.”
The vanishing non-indigene
The Peoples
Democratic Party is in worse shape as its leaders have been avoiding to
be associated with the party for fear of been attacked by miscreants.
Political analysts are of the view that there will be voter apathy in
the governorship election as majority of voters are scared of coming
out to vote for fear of attack by CPC supporters.
In Sabon-Gari area,
that is predominantly dominated by non-indigenes, many have already
resolved not to vote on Tuesday over security concerns. Majority of the
voters in Sabon Gari are PDP sympathizers and that would be a big minus
for the PDP in the governorship election.
The Christian
Association of Nigeria (CAN) chairman, Ransome-Bello who had condemned
the attack on non-indigenes, said he has been pleading with the various
non-indigenes groupings in Kano to rescind their decision to boycott
the election, even though he described their position as
understandable.
“We been talking
with them trying to see if they can change their minds,” he said. “If
we don’t succeed, there is nothing we can do about that.”
The ANPP, which has
performed poorly in two outings so far, is wondering whether the damage
control they have embarked on would assuage stakeholders of the party
who are still piqued over the emergence of Mr Takai as the governorship
candidate of the party.
The setback
recorded by the ANPP is ultimately traceable to intra party wrangling
among its chieftains and the new found popularity of oppositions
parties such as the PDP and the CPC.
The ANPP that once
enjoyed unity is now a fragmented entity, after scores of top notchers
like the Deputy Governor of the state, Abdullahi Tijjani Gwarzo; a
Senator, Muhammad Adamu Bello and a former Director General, Sani Lawan
Kofarmata dumped the party over the emergence of Mr. Takai.
All these erstwhile
ANPP chieftains and their supporters have joined the CPC, ACN, and PDP,
that is now the party with the best prospect to win in the state.
The ACN failed to
win any of the National Assembly seat contested for, but Mr Gwarzo’s
defection was positive for the PDP. Most ACN candidates were partly
responsible for ANPP’s set back.
ANPP’s fall from grace
A sign of the
setback for the ANPP was revealed during last week’s presidential
election where Ibrahim Shekarau got 19%, Goodluck Jonathan scored 16%
and Mr. Buhari scored about 59% in the state.
Another factor that
is working against the ANPP is the exit of Mr. Buhari and a bulk of his
supporters from the ANPP to the newly formed CPC. A larger percentage
of members of the CPC are former ANPP members. Analysts say this has
reduced the votes of the ANPP in the last election.
There is a general
view that the ANPP will lose the governorship election, even though Mr.
Shekarau is seen has having done well in the last 8 years.
The new found fame of the PDP governorship candidate Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is equally working for against the ANPP.
Auwalu Muazu, spokesperson for Mr. Takai campaign believes that Mr. Takai will win the election.
“We have no doubt
in our mind that come May 29, our candidate will be sworn in as the
governor of Kano, God willing,” he said. “Don’t bother yourself about
the outcome of the last two elections. This one will be different. The
people of Kano know who are candidate is and you cannot compare him
with the rest.”
