PDP loyalists mob Shekarau in Kano

The immediate past governor of Kano state, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, escaped being lynched by a mob yesterday when his motorcade was attacked in Garko, the headquarters of Garko local government area of the state leaving over 20 vehicles destroyed and several people injured. Also,an Islamic centre, built by Shekarau when he was governor, and ANPP offices in the town were burnt during the attack. Shekarau, who was together with several other leaders of the All Nigeria Party (ANPP), had led top chieftains of his political party and thousands of their supporters to Garko town for a campaign rally for the February 2 bye-election into two vacant seats in the state House of Assembly. In the convoy of the former governor, who is also the Sardaunan Kano, were Hon. Kawu Sumaila, Alhaji Salisu Sagir Takai, Senator Kabiru Gaya, Alhaji Ghali Sadik, and thousands of women supporters of ANPP from Kano and Garko. An eye witness told Blueprint that on Monday, when leaders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) went to Gaya town, a stronghold of the opposition ANPP, they were ambushed, several of their vehicles were destroyed and their party offices and several houses of their supporters were destroyed or burnt. What happened in Garko, a stronghold of the PDP, is regarded by pundits in Kano as a reprisal attack. The former governor later invited reporters to his house in Kano to brief them over the incident, but after he held a meeting with the state commissioner of police he cancelled the briefing and postponed it to 12:00 noon today. Some ANPP chieftains warned that if the state police command did not provide adequate security on Saturday, then the by-election is going to be bloody, as tension is already high in Garko and Gaya. It would be recalled that members of the state House of Assembly representing Gaya and Garko, Danladi Kademi and Abba Garko respectively, were killed recently by unknown gunmen. This is also coming on the heels of an attack on the convoy of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, in which six people were killed and several others injured.