The city of Kano on Sunday stood still for the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar as his campaign train arrived town to solicit their votes for the February 16, presidential elections.
The Sani Abacha sports stadium Kano, venue of the rally was filled to capacity and those who could not get access spilled into the town and literarily locked down the city.
Meanwhile, the PDP candidate, Atiku, has promised the people that he will restore Kano’s lost glory if he is voted into office in Saturday’s Presidential election.
He also promised to reduce the burden around the process of going on pilgrimage to the holy land.
“Vote for the PDP; if you vote the PDP, I promise that I will restore Kano’s lost glory. The wealth of Kano is in its trade and commerce; the wealth of Kano is in its agriculture. I make this solemn pledge today to revive all these sectors which have been killed.
“I also promise to ease (issues around) pilgrimage to the holy land. Please remember, vote the PDP from top to bottom, bottom to top. God bless you,” he said.
The turnout of supporters for the PDP’s presidential rally was indeed overwhelmingly unprecedented that Atiku and his entourage had difficulty moving about the city.
A journey of less than ten minutes from the Airport to the tomb of the great talakwaa politician Aminu Kano for prayer took the entourage over an hour and even more than that to get to the palace of the Emir of Kano for courtesy visit.
At the Tomb of the late politician called Mambayya House now Centre for Democratic Studies of the Bayero University, Kano, a wall collapsed as the crowd surged to get a glimpse of the Presidential candidate and his team.
From about 11 a.m when Atiku and his team arrived Kano, he was only able to reach the venue of the rally at 6 pm as the mammoth crowd lined the streets obstructing traffic following him to all the places he visited.
The crowd also prevented the PDP candidate from getting to the podium at the stadium for his speech and he had to speak from the bus that conveyed him to the venue.
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Also as a result of the large number of crowd that filled the stadium and lined the streets of the ancient commercial capital, no fewer than nine persons were said to have slumped while unconfirmed reports said three persons died. Six of those who fainted were said to be males, while the remaining three were females.
Before Sunday’s event, Kano was considered a stronghold of All Progressives Congress’, APC, Presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari.
The arrow head of Sunday’s mobilisation, former Governor of Kano state, Dr Rabiu Kwakwaso led other leaders including the Presidential candidate, Atiku, the National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, the Vice Presidential candidate Peter Obi and the Senate President and the Director General of the campaign Dr Bukola Saraki to praise the crowd and pronounced APC dead in Kano.
National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus said, “Those of you watching on television and on Android telephones, you can see that Kano has fallen. Kano is now 100 per cent PDP; nobody can come to Kano and rig you out.”
At the palace of the Emir, Atiku told Sanusi Sanusi that he was in the palace with his team to seek his blessing before going to address his subjects for votes.
He received the Emir’s blessing who urged politicians to play by the rule and ensure a free, fair and credible election.
