Kaduna Rally Was Biggest Gathering In Recent Times, No Stoning As Predicted On Social Media — Gov Uba Sani

Kaduna State Governor, Malam Uba Sani, has described the flag-off of President Bola Tinubu’s campaign in Kaduna as extremely successful, saying it was the biggest gathering in recent times and went without any loss of life, injury or tear gas.

The governor said this during an interview on Trust TV’s Daily Politics with Mannir Dan Ali and Monitored by Northern Nigeria Hub, while speaking on matters arising from the recent APC campaign launch.

Q: I believe you must have heaped a sigh of relief that it all came and went without any untoward incident?

Uba Sani: “Of course, for me as the governor, the protection of the lives and properties of everyone that came for that rally, it’s my responsibility. And that is the reason why, just as you said, for me, when other people are talking about other aspects of the rally, for me, I regarded the rally extremely successful.”

Asked why, he said the significance was not just the stadium crowd but the people who lined the streets from the airport to town.

“Not necessarily because a lot of people came out, because from the airport down to the stadium, you’ll agree with me that all the journalists that were there, they even told me, even those in the opposition that were very sincere, that was about the biggest gathering in the recent times. Mr. President landed at the international airport in Kaduna, and you’ll agree with me that from the airport to the town is about 50 minutes drive, and of course, a lot of people lined up on the street of Kaduna from the airport down to the stadium to receive Mr. President. Many of them, if you notice, they are not even wearing any APC uniform, but they came out. They came out on their own, Mr. President hailing him. For me, that is the most important,” he said.

He said the massive turnout vindicated him against social media narratives predicting violence.

“A lot of people before he came in, a lot of people came with different narratives. A lot of people were thinking that already on the social media, ‘Oh, we should be ready, president will be stoned, some people will be stoned.’ But as the governor of the state, I know nothing would happen, but I was also vindicated,” Uba Sani said.

Q: What gave you that confidence?

Uba Sani: “The confidence is that over time, particularly in the last three years, what I did as a governor of Kaduna is to bring the state together… Kaduna is the most diverse state in Nigeria — many ethnic nationalities, different religions… If you look at the history of Kaduna in the last two decades, you look at the number of lives we lost because of ethno-religious crisis in Kaduna, I can tell you they are more than the lives lost because of kidnappings, insurgency, and banditry… We addressed the issue of trust deficit between the people and the government… That is what really gave us the opportunity to be able to host a rally of that calibre — over 500,000 people on the street. Everybody left there without one single incident of loss of life or even major injury. We didn’t hear that, not even a tear gas.”

Q: How did you convince the president to come to Kaduna to launch his campaign?

Uba Sani: “I sat down with Mr. President. Number one, Kaduna — I made the president understand that he’s the heartbeat of northern Nigeria… 50 to 60% of most of the people that held position in northern Nigeria live in Kaduna, even if they are not from Kaduna. So Kaduna is the political and spiritual capital of northern Nigeria, and it happens to be the heartbeat of northern Nigeria. And I told Mr. President, ‘If you really want to launch your campaign and you’re talking about Northern Nigeria, come to Kaduna. Kaduna will prove how people really accept you in Northern Nigeria.’ Kano may have the population, but Kaduna is very peculiar, is critical, is more important than any state in Northern Nigeria.”

On whether he felt slighted that Kano delegates in Agbada appeared to steal the show on social media, he dismissed the claim.

“No, no, it’s not. I can tell you there are many states like Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, even Borno people came. It depends on who you actually beamed… Out of the people that attended the rally, I can tell you, 70% of the people that came out for the rally are from Kaduna, but 30% are from other states of the north. Just like if we are going to do a rally in Kano tomorrow, other states within the northwest certainly will also attend. But I can tell you 70%, because we’re talking about a rally that we had about over 500,000 both inside and outside. As a governor of Kaduna state, I could not say all the people that beam in the state must be from my state. That is not being a leader. A leader means allow everyone to participate,” he said.

On whether the crowd was mobilized and paid:

“Let me tell you… Even America, where they are the father of democracy — America had democracy for over two centuries right now — but I can tell you, if you want to go to a rally, one person can volunteer to say, ‘I want to support logistics of the people that are coming.’ We have party stalwarts, we have people who support the party, not necessarily within the government, outside the government, who can say, as one of the leaders of the party, ‘I am willing and ready to transport people from Benue to Kaduna, and I can support them.’ So it’s not new… No party in Nigeria — that attitude maybe died with PRP or NEPU, because in their days it’s members that contribute money. The only time that happened was during NEPU and PRP during Balarabe Musa and Aminu Kano. After that, if anybody tells you in this country — I was in PDP before joining, before even the creation of APC — you can agree with me, even when Buhari was contesting, Buhari might not use his money if there are people that volunteered to support his election. So our politics is heavily monetized,” Uba Sani stated.