Nigeriens And Kano APC Rally

Last Thursday, two governors from the Republic of Niger, Governors Issa Moussa of Zinder and Zakiri Umar of Maradi States respectively, were conspicuously present at the presidential rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano to rally support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election.
Salihu Yakasai, media aide to Kano State Governor, Umar Ganduje, revealed this on his Twitter handle beneath a photo of the governors and Ganduje.
Yakasai said, “H.E @ Gov Umar Ganduje with his deputy H.E DrNasiru Gawuna, his former Dep H.E Prof Hafiz Abubakar, Minister of Interior, Abdurrahman Dambazau and that of Water Resources, Suleiman Kazaure, Governors of Zinder and Maradi from Niger Republic, & others getting ready to receive @MBuhari #PMB in Kano.”
Yakasai further added that the two Nigerien governors were in Kano to rally support for President Buhari’s re-election.Reports also had it that the Buhari Presidency and the APC rented and smuggled in a crowd of aliens from Niger Republic to populate Mr. President’s campaign rally in Kano State.
Defending the presence of the two governors from the neighbouring Niger Republic at the presidential campaign rally held in the Kano metropolis, the Director of the Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu said the presence of the governors was in line with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol of free movement of persons within the ECOWAS sub-region.
While The Tide acknowledges the existence of the ECOWAS protocol of free movement of persons, we hold that such a defence at this time when the nation is contending with insurgency and banditry is lame and porous. This is particularly against the backdrop of claims by President Buhari that killer herdsmen ravaging the nation are mercenaries who are infiltrating from the Sahel region.
The involvement of mercenaries from neighboring countries in the APC rally is unfashionable and condemnable.Elections are internal affairs of Nigerians, it is, therefore, absurd to see the two foreign governors in Kano to welcome the President to his own country. We view the action of the APC as an assault on the nation’s sovereignty and an attempt to morgage the future of the country.
We are saddened that President Buhari and the APC, in their desperation have compromised the nation’s territorial integrity and this no doubt, portends grave danger to national security and the sanctity of the electoral process.Even the presence of the Minister in charge of Internal Security of the nation at that campaign rally makes it more worrisome.
Beyond the promises made by the Federal Government, we are worried that the Kano incident may turn out to be a confirmation of fears often expressed by the opposition of plots by agents of the APC to use mercenaries from neighbouring countries to precipitate crisis with the aim of scuttling the 2019 general elections.
Also, bearing in mind that in 2015, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) delivered 1.9 million votes to the APC presidential candidate in circumstances devoid of transparency and credibility, there are apprehensions accentuated by INEC’s recent mass creation of additional polling units, which had not been properly designated and which may be deployed for the perpetration of monumental electoral fraud in parts of the North.
On account of this, The Tide demands urgent and thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the presence of politicians and thugs from Niger Republic at the APC presidential rally in Kano last Thursday. Security agencies must immediately investigate and lay in the public domain the circumstances leading to their presence at the rally.
Already, there are fears that miscreants who came from Niger Republic to the Kano rally are being offered accommodation by the APC to unleash violence immediately it is clear that President Buhari is losing the presidential election.
The APC and the Buhari Presidency must immediately explain the roles being played by Issa Moussa, Governor of Zinder and his counterpart from Maradi, Zakiri Umar, both of Niger Republic, who were sighted decked in the attires of the APC in our political affairs.
We insist that no amount of desperation to win the February 16 presidential election or any other election should be predicated on the unfettered opening of the country’s international borders to foreign political interests.
We make haste to caution that under no circumstance should the nation be plunged into crisis before, during and after the forthcoming general elections.