Kano State governor Engineer Rabiu Musa KwanKwaso has taken a swipe at the chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment and deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, over his position on state creation.
He said the way Ekweremadu was anxiously pursuing the process suggested that he had a sectional agenda.
Kwankwaso, who spoke yesterday in Abuja while briefing newsmen, took exception to any creation of state that is not based on set criteria but rather on mere political expediency which could be manipulated for sectional interests.
He said Ekweremadu made a big mistake by attempting to justify additional state for the south-east just because the region has five states while the north-west, for instance, has seven states.
He said also that the deputy Senate president was wrong when he compared Kano State, which has a population of 9.4 million, land mass of 20, 131 square kilometre and 44 local government areas, with Lagos State with a population of 9 million, a land area of 3, 345 square kilometres and 22 local government areas.
“As governor of Kano, I should defend the interest of the state,” he said. According to him, there is no basis to compare Kano with another state from the south-west as yardstick to create additional state for the south-east. Doing so, he said, will be tantamount to inciting one section of the country against another.
He said by the statistics of the 2006 National Population Census, while Kano recorded a population of 9,383,682, and a land mass of 20,131 square kilometres, states like Enugu, home state of Ekweremadu, recorded a population of 3,257,298 and a land area of 7,161 square kilometres; Abia had a population of 2, 833, 999 and a land mass of 6, 320 square kilometres, while Imo had a population of 3, 934, 899 million and a land mass of 5, 100 square kilometres.
Kwankwaso also stated that a combined population of the south-south (21, 014,655) and the south-east (16, 381, 729) which amounts to 37, 396,384 is only 1, 609 million ahead of the population of the north-west zone which is 35, 786, 944 million.
He said also that in terms of land mass, the south-south and south–east combined have a total land area of 113, 685 square kilometres while the north-west alone was a total land area of 223, 065 square kilometres.
He insisted that these statistical facts should have formed the basis for state creation rather than manipulating the facts.
“Some people want to take advantage of some people’s weaknesses. They want to create a state for the south-east alone and that is a fact,” he said.
“During the constitutional conference, we tried to create a state out of Kano because it should not have been one state under normal circumstance with a population of 9.4 million with three senatorial districts while another state with only about 3 million also has three senatorial districts,” he said. “If you want to create state, go ahead and create it. Don’t call Kano. If you call Kano, you stand the risk of getting answers.
On the plan to amend the constitution to make way for the appointment of ministers on the basis of geopolitical zones against the current practice of appointing them on state basis, Kwankwaso said it would be unfair as the appointment process could be manipulated in favour of some states at the expense of others.
The appointment of ministers on state representation is more equitable and less prone to manipulation against regional representation being planned, he said.
Meanwhile, efforts by leadership sunday to get the reaction of senator Ekweremadu on the allegations levelled against him by governor Kwankwaso last night were unsuccessful.