The All Progressives Congress (APC) held a one-million-man Permanent Voter Card (PVC) march in support of the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his running mate, Kashim Shettima.
The march, which had the trappings of a rally, drew an unprecedented crowd that shut down the ancient city at the weekend.
Security operatives had a hectic day controlling traffic which later spread to many arteries of the metropolis, making political analysts to predict victory for the APC candidate.
The march, billed to last for four hours ended up taking the whole Sunday. A mammoth crowd of party supporters and chieftains participated in the rally.
According to the Northwest Zonal Coordinator of the Tinubu Support Group Council, Bappa Babba Dan Agundi, the march was to kick-off commence by 2pm.
But as early as 6am, a sea of supporters – men, women and youths from Kano’s 44 local government areas trooped to the foyer of the Emir of Kano’s palace take-off point.
The supporters dressed in various customised attires with caps to match, carrying placards with inscriptions in English and Hausa languages such: “2023: Tinubu is the Winner”; “APC Adilchi, 2023 Tinubu In shallah”, etc.
They chanted APC songs even as music boomed from a truckload of heavy speakers.
Tinubu’s first son Seyi joined the procession from the Emir’s Palace. The train went through the State Road, to the Kano State Government House. It climaxed with a rally at the Kano Race Course.
Seyi rode on a horse back alongside others, as part of activities marking the occasion.
Power bike riders followed the horse riders to add glamour to the rally. It was colourful as they displayed stunts with their bikes in the race course premises, all in honour of Tinubu. Some residents were seen lined up only to watch the event.
Other participants were: House of Representatives Majority Leader Al-hassan Ado Doguwa; Kano Road Transport Managing Director, Baba Danagundi; Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Usman Alhaji; Kano APC governorship candidate, Dr. Nasiru Gawuna and his running mate Murtala Garo as well as other top federal and State government functionaries.
They were received at the Kano Goverment House by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and other party stakeholders.
The governor said: “Kano is for Tinubu and Tinubu is for Kano.”
The governor said arrangements have been made by Kano State government to ensure a free, fair, transparent and credible election in Kano.
He warned against engaging in any form of political violence before, during and after the elections.
Ganduje said: “Our mission is to ensure that the joint ticket of Tinubu/Shettima emerge victorious in the 2023 presidential election, hence our unalloyed support and solidarity for him in Kano.
“With the mammoth crowd that have attended this march, Tinubu will surely win Kano state 100 percent come 2023 presidential election.
“The march was organised by the 2,000 different Tinubu support groups, which is just an arm of the campaign structure. This march covers a span of 20 kilometers with the turnout of the crowd amounting to 3 million, instead of the projected one million.
“With what we are witnessing here today, Kano state is 100 per cent for Tinubu.”
