A member of the Kano State Executive Council and Commissioner of Lands, Adamu Aliyu, has publicly issued a death threat to the judges of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
Mr. Aliyu also vowed to unleash terror on residents of the state, which he said would be worse than what residents of neighboring Kaduna and Zamfara are suffering.
Aliyu’s threat heightens tension in the North West state as members of the ruling New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) await the outcome of the election tribunal.
Reacting to the allegation that judges of the tribunal may have been bribed to rule against his party, the NNPP, Mr. Aliyu said should the tribunal judges rule against his party in the petition before it, they may pay with their lives.
According to the Premium Times, Mr. Aliyu made the statements on Thursday while addressing members of the NNPP during a solidarity protest, which also turned into a prayer session for an outcome favorable to the party at the tribunal.
In a video posted online, Aliyu was captured saying,
“I am sending this message to the tribunal judges; any judge that allows himself to be used and collects bribes and passes judgment that is not right, we want to tell him he must choose between his life and the bribe money he collected.
“We are promising you [our supporters], we are receiving your complaints, and the votes you cast on his excellency [Governor Yusuf] will not go in vain unless we lose our lives or the Kano state falls.
“Another message for the leaders. You have seen the conflict [banditry] in Zamfara, Kaduna, and Katsina. I swear, because of this governorship seat, everyone will die. The conflict that will start in Kano will be more deadly than the ones in those states and Borno,” Mr. Aliyu said.
The protest and prayer session was attended by the Secretary to the Kano State Government, Baffa Bichi; a former deputy governor of the state, Hafiz Abubakar; top members of the state’s executive council; and special advisers and assistants to the governor.
Though the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has not fixed a date for the delivery of its verdict, a few weeks ago, the tribunal accused an unnamed Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) of attempting to bribe her with N10 billion to temper justice in the course of delivering judgment.
