The Sallah celebrations were almost marred in Kano at the weekend as suspected thugs attacked supporters of former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso leaving no fewer than 50 of them seriously wounded.
The crisis made hundreds of celebrants at the annual traditional Hawan Dausche dubar at the Emir’s Palace to scamper for safety, as prominent personalities received machete cuts.
Former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Rabiu Suleiman Bichi; Yahya Kwankwaso, younger brother to Senator Kwankwaso and former Commission for Lands and Physical Planning, Yusuf Bello Danbatta, were among those severely injured.
An eyewitness, Aminu Yakubu, told journalists that trouble started when some hoodlums invaded Kwankwaso loyalists during the traditional horse ride with dangerous weapons.
Aminu said: “It was surprising to see so many thugs coming into the arena while the audience was enjoying the traditional horse ride. They started fighting and hitting people with knives and cutlasses. I counted more than 50 people wounded.
Meanwhile, Dambatta had accused the state government and the Metropolitan Kano Police Area Command of masterminding the attack.
His words: “We were at Asiyya Bayero Hospital opposite the Emir’s Palace to witness the Durbar when the thugs came from nowhere and attacked me and some other friends with cutlasses and some chemical spray. You can see my knees and blood dripping from all over my body.”
Also, a former Special Adviser to Kwankwaso, Ghazali Musa Obasanjo, who confirmed the development, said scores of youths who were injured at the scene have been taken to the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital while some of them remained unconscious due to the cuts.
“We saw some youths with the pictures of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and that of Abbas Abdullahi among those that attacked us. I also saw the member representing Municipal at the state Assembly, Baffa Baba Dangundi, who personally hit Bichi on the head with a plank.
When contacted on the allegations against Ganduje, Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba denied knowledge of the attack on anybody at the Hawan Daushe.
Mohammad said although there was intelligence report that the Kwankwaso group planned to attack the governor, he alleged that an orchestrated plan forced them to mobilise their members from Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina and Zamfara states to carry out the attack.
