Kwankwaso, Ganduje Supporters Clash in Kano

• Former SSG, others wounded

By Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

Many people, including a former Secretary to Kano State Government of former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Rabiu, Suleiman Bichi and younger brother to Kwankwaso, Mr. Sani Kwankwaso, were seriously wounded at the weekend in Kano in a political clash.

The incidence occurred at traditional Hawan Daushe in Kano Emirate Palace when the two political camps of Kwankwaso and incumbent state Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, clashed.

An eyewitness told THISDAY that crisis erupted when members of the Kwankwasiyya movement who are loyal to Kwankwaso thronged the Hawan Daushe venue in their thousands with their movement symbol of redcap, a situation which provoked the supporters of Ganduje who began with verbal attack before dangerous weapons were freely used to attack each others.

However, the media aide to Kwankwaso, Hajia Binta Spikin, alleged that on arriving at the palace by member of Kwankwasiyya, the police officers present pushed them back using tear gas canisters and other devices, forcing the supporters to scamper for safety.

“We just saw people hitting us with cutlasses, heavy sticks and other dangerous weapons. Then I fell down and my eyeglasses broke.

“Somebody from his behind hit the former SSG, Bichi, with a cutlass and another moved forward to stab him but Kwankwaso’s younger brother used his hands to block it and they nearly cut his hands.”

The eyewitness accused Governor Ganduje of being behind the attack, saying he was the one who mobilised the police and the thugs.

In his reaction also, The state Commissioner of Information, Mr. Mohammad Garba, said the governor was not even in the state when the violence occurred.

He said the governor and his team travelled to the neighbouring Katsina State to pay Sallah homage to President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura and that when the governor and his team returned to Kano, the emir’s palace was peaceful and the Hawan Daushe held peacefully.

It was learnt that the former SSG is receiving treatment at the Murtala Muhammad Hospital, while others were at various hospitals in the state.

The police spokesman in Kano, Magaji Musa Majia, confirmed the incident, stating that investigation had been commenced by the command to find out those behind the incident.