JUST IN: Police ask Kwankwaso to postpone Kano rally

The Kano state police command has asked Rabiu Kwankwaso, a former governor of the state, to suspend his visit to Kano.

Rabiu Yusuf, commissioner of police in the state, who gave the warning on Friday morning, said failure to comply with it might attract “stiffer implication”.

Kwankwaso and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) under the leadership of Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of the state, are set to hold parallel political rallies on January 30.

The two separate events are centred on the February 10 local government election in the state and the 2019 general election.

Addressing journalists at the Bompai police headquarters in Kano, Yusuf said intelligence information has revealed that the rally by the Kwankwaso group could be hijacked by “miscreants”.

He advised Kwankwaso to consider postponing his trip “until the tension generated is down”.

Last week, there were reports that the former governor had postponed the rally because of ill health.

But Kwankwaso denied the report, attributing it to his detractors.

“It has come to our knowledge that out of desperation, some groups or individuals who are cronies of the Ganduje administration are sponsoring falsehood about Sen. Kwankwaso’s scheduled visit to his constituency on the 30th of January, read a statement which Binta Rabiu, his spokesman, issued on his behalf.

“We wish to make it categorically clear that Sen. Kwankwaso is not sick, in fact, he has never been healthier; the scheduled visit has not been cancelled. Therefore, our teeming supporters should disregard this report which is a total falsehood,” the statement noted.

“The report is clearly the work of mischief makers who are desperately trying to prevent the visit of the Kwankwaso who is been cherished by his teeming supporters.”

Kwankwaso is the senator representing Kano central.