Let the law decide on Gawuna

Though there is the saying in Hausa that the law doesn’t punish those with upper hands, in some cases those with upper hands use their hands to shield themselves.

 The attitude of the Kano deputy governor, Nasiru Gawuna, is shameful to his reputation as the second ranking administrator of the state.

 It was alleged that the Kano deputy governor and the commissioner of local government affairs, Alhaji Sule Garo, entered a collation centre and tore result sheets of the governorship election with the intention to disrupt the collation process for fear of losing the election to PDP, the main opposition party.

 The incident caused uproar in which the police saved the situation and whisked away the deputy governor from angry mob. By law, the deputy governor and his cohorts have committed punishable offences.

Section 135 of the Electoral Act prohibits disorderly conduct at elections. By that section, any person who at an election acts or incites others to act in a disorderly manner commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N100, 000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both. It is also an offence under section 136 on an election day to be in possession of any offensive weapon or wear any dress or have any facial or other decorations which in any event are calculated to intimidate voters or to snatch or destroy any election material. Punishment for this offences is N50, 000 or imprisonment for six months.

 Now that the ball is in the court of the Nigerian police, the Kano state people and Nigerians watch to see justice done on the offenders and the people behind them to set a deterring lesson to others.

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