THE police in Kaduna, on Sunday, stopped the official launch of the presidential campaign of former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, for security reasons..
Kaduna State coordinator of the IBB Campaign Organisation and former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Honourable Bashir Zubairu, had earlier informed newsmen that General Babangida and his national campaign team would visit the state on Sunday for consultation with politicians and other prominent citizens of the state.
However, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Mr Tambari Yabo Mohammed, told newsmen that his command had to stop the programme from holding, because the organisers did not adhere to the Public Order Act which requires that the police be informed 48 hours before such event would hold.
The police commissioner said it was wrong to insinuate that it was a directive “from above,” adding that Vice-President Namadi Sambo was in Kaduna and in order to avoid any possible clash with the supporters of the vice-president, the police had to stop the event in the interest of law and order.
According to him, “but the IBB people came to our office at about 10.00 p.m. on Saturday to inform us about the rally. When we considered the proximity of the IBB campaign office to the Government Lodge at Alimi Road, where the vice-president is staying, we decided not to allow them hold the rally to avoid a situation, where there will be a clash between their supporters..
“We did that in the interest of the state and so it will be wrong to say that the commissioner of police stopped the rally, because I did not stop the rally. I cannot stop any rally that conforms with the provisions of the law.”
“If they had complied with the law and given us 48 hours notice or even came to us early in the day, we could either have changed the date for them or changed the venue if they insisted on going ahead with the rally.
“You can see that the vice-president is in town and we are heavily involved in his activities. But that notwithstanding, we would have changed the venue for them and mobilised our men to the place.
But they did not follow the rules,” he said.
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