Stop roadblocks when Kwankwaso returns to Kano
After a sojourn from his birthplace for several months Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, an APC presidential aspirant and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, is reported to have planned to return to Kano next Saturday, December 30, 2017. It will be the second time he will be visiting his Kano Central Constituency since he became senator […]
After a sojourn from his birthplace for several months Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, an APC presidential aspirant and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, is reported to have planned to return to Kano next Saturday, December 30, 2017. It will be the second time he will be visiting his Kano Central Constituency since he became senator about three years ago (do you wonder?). And because he has made Kaduna his second home, it is most likely that he will travel by road.
In fact, it is not the first time he will be travelling from Kaduna to Kano by road. In the past, whenever he made such trips his supporters were stationed along the road to welcome him. Some of them however have made the habit of blocking the highway at strategic places, especially after Kwanar-Dangora. As a victim of one of such roadblocks while on my way from Zaria, I had the misfortune of experiencing the agony drivers suffer during such holdups. Settlements such as Dakatsalle, Kura, Kwanar Rano and Kwanar Dawakin Kudu were deliberately made impassable to motorists on the highway.
This illegality is usually perpetrated from the afternoon up till about 6.00 pm when Kwankwaso’s entourage is expected to reach those places, thus causing untold hardship to thousands of road users like myself on that day. Actually, on the said day I had no choice but to join other disgruntled drivers who were anxious to reach Kano and had to divert from the main road through villages to avoid the long row of stationary vehicles. Unfortunately for us, as the diversion could not continue all the way to Kano we had to return back to the highway before Kwanar Rano, only to meet another roadblock there.
It is said that the blockage of the road is made purposely with the intention of amassing hundreds of vehicles that ply the road daily from various parts of the country and forcing them to join the politician’s convoy to accompany him to Kano. Reportedly, the aim of this “ingenious” political strategy is to create the impression that the long row of vehicles entering Kano is part of the political icon’s entourage that accompanied him all the way from Kaduna.
In other words, they want the impression to be created that he and his supporters are such popular politicians in Kano that they could be able to win elections any day. Hopefully, this would deceive the gullible among the electorate and ultimately create the bandwagon effect on Election Day.
As the trip is purposely delayed until late evening in order to create maximum effect, by the time his entourage arrives home by night all the streets leading to his residence such as Zaria Road, Hospital Road, Court Road and Zoo Road are usually chocked up with hundreds of vehicles with drivers and their passengers fuming with anger. Even adjoining ones such as Maiduguri Road at Hotoro and Tarauni areas are sometimes flocked by vehicles that had tried to escape from Zaria Road through Eastern bypass to get to other parts of the town.
As a result of this development thousands of commuters are made to suffer unnecessarily. And for several days after the incident the motorists involved in the debacle would be complaining loudly about how politicians are allowed by the security agencies to violate people’s rights as they liked.
In view of this therefore, I call on the state Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Rabiu Yusuf, to please put a stop to this act of impunity. The illegal roadblocks on Zaria-Kano road that would most likely take place next Saturday when the Senator returns should hence be outlawed this time around. The CP should order his men to patrol the road right from the Kaduna/Kano border up to Dangi roundabout on the day. Some policemen should also be stationed in the settlements mentioned above to prevent the illegal roadblocks by miscreants.
It goes without saying that politicians seeking the support of ordinary folks who constitute the bulk of the electorate should not do anything senselessly that would incur their wrath. They should always endeavor to behave honourably and avoid acting heartlessly with regard to other road users when they travel. They should be wary of being seen to always be more concerned about their political interests because this will give the impression, rightly or wrongly, that they are pretentious whenever they speak about seeking power to serve public interest.
Ado U. Muhammad, Kano, [email protected]