Headlines
Fresh political feud erupts between Kwankwaso and Ganduje
Nasiru Yusuf
A fresh political feud was erupted between governor of Kano state Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and his former boss Rabiu Kwankwaso.
KANO FOCUS reports that the new crisis started on Sunday when Kwankwaso said Ganduje lost his reelection bid in 2019 but powerful forces imposed him on the state.
In an interview with The PUNCH, Kwankwaso described the alleged imposition on Kano residents as the “worst crime in a democracy”.
The former governor said many have realised their mistake and are ready for real change in the state in 2023.
“This country is fully aware that Ganduje lost the election in 2019 in Kano, but the powers that be ensured that they imposed him on the majority,” he said.
“They imposed the will of the minority on the majority which is the worst crime in a democracy. I think everybody is paying the price now. I think some of them are trying to correct their mistakes now after the maximum damage made to the state. It is very unfortunate that many people could not see what the masses were seeing.
“There were reasons he would not have been allowed to contest in 2019, but the powers that be at the time insisted that he should continue. The masses decided to do what the leaders couldn’t do. They still came out to use power at that time and those of us who believe in peace didn’t want to start a crisis in Kano.”
The former minister said there are many young people joining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2023 polls.
“Instead of us being weak, they are the ones getting weaker. Every day, we have people, the masses crossing to our side. Many of them who were below 18 years of age during the last elections, but are now of age, are coming to register with us,” he said.
Kwankwaso said direct primary mode is more democratic but governors do not want it because their power will be curtailed.
“After practicing the indirect primary, I can easily compare and say the direct one is more democratic and better than the indirect,” he said.
“One thing that I believe is that the governors and other powerful people will never want to approve a direct primary because the power will get out of the government houses and land in the hands of the voters and members of the party.
“So, they will never want it.”
Ganduje fires back
In a swift reaction, the Kano State government has dismissed a claim by the former governor that Ganduje did not win the 2019 gubernatorial election but imposed on the people by powerful forces.
The Commissioner for Information, Kano State, Muhammad Garba, in a statement on Sunday titled, ‘Ganduje won election not imposed, KNSG dares Kwankwaso,’ refuted the claim, saying that Kwankwaso managed “a well-organised election rigging network, particularly in the metropolitan local governments, where youth, mostly without even voters’ card were engaged to perpetrate the act.”
According to Garba, “It was vividly clear that barely hours into the voting, most of the ballot boxes were said to have been stuffed, only for the Independent National Electoral Commission to discover that either card readers were not used or the voters are not captured in its data and therefore had to cancel the results from many centres and declared the election inconclusive.”
He noted that it was unfortunate that as a leader who was severally involved in the election process, Kwankwaso is still contesting the result of an election conducted by a statutory body and upheld by courts of law.
The commissioner said, recently, Kwankwaso was in the media cautioning his followers against unguarded utterances but ended up making incendiary rhetoric unbecoming a person of his calibre.
He said the interview Kwankwaso granted Sunday PUNCH in which he “attempted to rubbish the Ganduje administration” has done him more harm than good which completely negates the spirit of genuine peace and reconciliation he preached to his followers in the last few days to avoid derailing.
Garba stated that Kwankwaso should have thanked Ganduje for completing many of the projects he abandoned, saying that the people of Kano are paying the price for the unparalleled policy of continuity that saw the completion of many projects in the last six years in the state.
He enumerated the projects to include “Aminu Dantata Flyover, Yahaya Gusau Road and Prince Audu Underpass, Five-kilometre roads in Dawakin Tofa, Ungogo, Warawa, Rano and Tofa local governments; Mahmoud Salga Road, Jaba-Rimin Kebe Road, Independent Power Project at Tiga and Challawa Dams, among many others.”
On education, which was the centrepiece of the Kwankwaso administration, the commissioner noted that as far as education is concerned, the Ganduje administration has done more, including payment of burden of over N15bn backlog scholarships to needy students overseas left by the Kwankwaso administration.
He said that N3.5bn had been paid for students in Sudan; N4.5bn for Cyprus; N384m for those in France, while it is paying students in Egypt and India.
Garba said, in addition to implementing the Free and Compulsory Basic and Secondary Education, the Ganduje administration has carried out massive infrastructure development in all its tertiary institutions and accreditation of many courses they offer.
He, therefore, assured Nigerians that despite the agitation for reconciliation that is ongoing among party leaders, the Ganduje administration would accordingly react to any attempt to downplay “the achievements it has recorded and will not be distracted from carrying on with the responsibility for which it was elected into office.”
Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim
The Kano State Government has appealed a Federal High Court judgement that ordered it to pay N30 billion as compensation to some traders for the demolition of their shops.
KANO FOCUS reports that a Federal High Court sitting in Kano and presided over by Justice Simon Anogede, had, while delivering judgement in the case filed by the Traders Association, said what the government did was barbaric and unconstitutional.
The court however awarded N30 billion as compensation to the traders, instead of the N250 billion they demanded from the government.
However, the Kano State government says it has appealed the judgement, which it described as miscarriage of justice.
Barrister Haruna Isa Dederi, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, explained that the court was not right in awarding judgement to the Traders Association because the Land Use Act is clear on the position of lands in every state.
He insisted that the court lacked the jurisdiction to even listen to the case because government is the sole owner of land, according to the Land Use Act.
Headlines
ACReSAL plans to increase city parks to 50 in Kano, laments indiscriminate felling of trees
Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim
The Kano Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL), has said that it will increase city parks to 50 in Kano.
KANO FOCUS reports that the Project Coordinator Dr Dahiru Muhammad Hashim made this known while addressing newsmen on Thursday in Kano.
He said the project is planning to recover and restore lost landscapes arising from natural causes and human activities.
”We are committed to addressing the environmental challenges that affect the state such as climate change, drylands, erosion and flooding, land degradation, and issues that affect the livelihood of communities which is mainly agriculture.
”The ACReSAL project is anchored on four broad components that speak essentially to the demand of the poor whose livelihoods have been distressed,” he said.
Hashim also said that the ACReSAL project has drilled solar-powered boreholes and established tree nurseries in some local government areas of the state.
He said that the intervention would boost agriculture and improve the standard of living of the people while the tree nurseries would help to combat desertification and soil erosion.
He expressed the commitment of the state in improving and protecting the Kano environment with priority and attention to the sector on issues of biodiversity conservation and restoration of degraded lands.
“ACReSAL plans to undertake Erosion control work in Rarin, Dawakin Tofa and Bulbula/Gayawa, Nassarawa, and Ungogo Local government areas.
“Construction of water conservation structure and provision of minor irrigation facilities in ‘Yartiti, Shanono, and construction of water conservation structure and provision of minor irrigation facilities in Fajewa, Takai Local government area.
“Establishment of 100ha individual farmer orchards and Woodlot plantations, 200ha of woodlot in communal forests and institutional plantings.
“440ha farmer-managed natural regeneration of indigenous tree species on individual farmlands and communal forests and promotion of climate-smart agriculture through FLID and CRF among others,” he said
KANO FOCUS reports that the World Bank’s 700 million dollar ACReSAL project is being implemented in collaboration with the federal government and the 19 northern states and the FCT was recently officially launched in Bauchi by Gov. Bala Mohammed, thus becoming the first among the participating states to unveil the project implementation.
The ACreSAL project is embarked on by the Federal Government to build community resilience as well as improve the sustainable productivity of its natural resources in Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Plateau, Adamawa, Taraba, Niger, Kwara, and Kaduna.
These northern states including the FCT, the federal government said are faced by rapid desert encroachment ranging from severe to moderate and marginal.
Other incentives of the project are the strengthening of the environment for integrated climate-resilient landscape management, fighting issues surrounding desertification, drought, landscape degradation, and deprivation at community levels as well as resuscitating the sectors of agriculture, environment, and water resources.
The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations NIPR Kano Chapter has set to elect new leadership of the institution in Kano during its annual general meeting
KANO FOCUS reports that this was contained in a statement issued by Mahmud Ibrahim Kwari the instituted’s Kano branch chairman publicity sub-committee on Friday.
Mr Kwari said during the AGM a public lecture will be presented on the importance of Artificial intelligence (AI)
The event will be held today (Friday) the 29th of September, 2023 at the Tahir Guest Palace Kano.
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The theme of the event is “Artificial Intelligence and Spin-Doctoring in Public Relations Practice in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges”
The lecture will be presented by Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu of the Faculty of Communications, Bayero University.
Also, the l public relations expert and the publisher of PRNigeria Malam Yushau Shuaibu will discuss the paper.
The Emir of Kano Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero who chaired the contact and mobilization sub-committee of the event will be the royal father at the occasion.
Similarly, Former Kano state Governor, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau will chair the Occasion while the president of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations Mr. Ike Neliaku, and the immediate past president of the Institute, Malam Mukhtar Zubair Siraj are expected to be in attendance.
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