BY: AMINU HUSSAIN SAGAGI
A single sentence, sharpened into a threat, can be the match that lights a tinderbox.
That danger is not hypothetical in Kano.
Recent public utterances credited to Garba Kore – a well-known media operator and close associate of former Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje – in which the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is said to be willing to “go to any extent,” including breaking the law, to reclaim Kano from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), have been widely reported and have predictably set off alarm bells across the state and beyond. Those were not idle words.
Kano has been the epicentre of bitter partisan contestation since 2023, when the NNPP wrested the governorship from the then ruling APC after a combative and polarising campaign.
The by-elections, defections and seat reclaims that followed – including the recent manipulated APC victory in the Ghari/Tsanyawa State Constituency – show how high the political temperature remains.
When influential voices signal that legal limits can be discarded for political gain, they undermine the fragile rules that keep that heat from boiling over.
Why incendiary rhetoric matters?
Experts have repeatedly warned that inflammatory political rhetoric heightens the risk of violence, especially in places where identity and political rivalry overlap.
In fragile contexts, statement to “go to any extent, including breaking the law” are perceived as licences for extralegal action – from vote-rigging and intimidation to the mobilisation of thugs or deployment of complicit security agents – and can easily spiral into chaos.
The regional risk – The fallout will not stop in Kano.
The Northwest is tightly interconnected by kinship, trade, and shared media networks; what happens in Kano echoes in Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto, and beyond.
A single violent episode could inflame old grievances and turn a political contest into a regional crisis.
Trust in democracy at stake – Democracy is not just about ballots; it rests on a shared belief in the rule of law.
When politicians and their associates publicly boast about breaking laws to gain power, they corrode that belief. Citizens lose faith in elections and start to see force, not votes, as the path to justice.
That is the death of democracy by a thousand reckless words.
A plea for anchor points – Responsible leadership demands restraint and accountability. Those who command influence, political operatives, party leaders, and media voices must retract, clarify, and apologise for inflammatory statements.
If a remark was a careless exaggeration, withdraw it; if it was a genuine threat, law enforcement must step in. Security agencies must not remain silent. They must investigate, caution, and, where necessary, prosecute anyone inciting lawlessness or undermining public order. This is not about partisanship, it is about protecting the peace and upholding the Constitution.
Who pays the cost? — Ordinary Kano citizens do. Traders, farmers, students, and families will be the first to pay through lost livelihoods, fear and fractured communities. The short-term prize of “reclaiming power” cannot justify the long-term ruin of peace and trust.
The closing warning — Politics is a contest of ideas, not impunity. Parties have every right to campaign, contest and litigate – but none to declare law-breaking an option. In a nation still learning to walk the democratic path, words that glorify illegality are acts of sabotage against the people’s will.
Action now: Retract, reaffirm, and enforce.
Political actors must withdraw reckless claims, party leaders must publicly reject calls for lawlessness, and law enforcement must take decisive, impartial action against anyone (including the privileged and protected rabble-rouser, Kore) whose words or actions endanger public peace.
Institutions must stand firm. The alternative to this is grim – deepening distrust, recurring violence, and a democracy hollowed out from within.
Barrister Aminu Hussaini Sagagi, the Special Adviser to the Executive Governor of Kano State on Justice/Constitutional Matters.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not in anyway or necessarily reflect the view of GLOBAL TRACKER.