Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, in the 2023 elections, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has alleged a plot by some Lagosians to capture and colonise the northern region.
He also accused the Lagos forces of being behind the Emirate tussle in Kano State.
Mr Kwankwaso made the allegations while delivering a speech during the convocation ceremony of Skyline University, Kano.
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Mr Kwankwaso, who is a former governor of Kano State and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, said if not urgently addressed, the challenges confronting the northern region spells doom for the country.
He said: “Let me note our situation here in Kano and indeed northern Nigeria. The emir is just being a stooge at this very difficult time, especially in this part of the country (northern Nigeria).
“Today, we can see very clearly that there is a lot of efforts from the Lagos axis to colonize this part of the country. Today, Lagos wouldn’t allow us to choose an emir, Lagos has to come to the centre of Kano to put their own emir.”
On the proposed tax reform bills introduced by President Bola Tinubu, Mr Kwankwaso said it’s an attempt to take away from the region.
He, therefore, called on lawmakers and politicians from the region to reject the bill to ensure the region is not cheated.
He said: “Today, we are aware that the Lagos young men are working so hard to impose taxes and take away our taxes from Kano and this part of the country to Lagos.
“Today, as we have seen, even the telephones that we make or register here in Kano, efforts are there to take all the taxes to Lagos.
“Even our sons and daughters who have brought factories many of them here in Kano and northern Nigeria and even banks, somehow, they are forced to take their headquarters to Lagos because taxes will now have to go to Lagos.
“At this moment, I would like to call all our National Assembly members to keep their eyes open so that they don’t do anything that would cheat the people of northern Nigeria, especially here, Kano.
“We are witnesses to what happened during the first term, 1999 to 2000, where our members of the National Assembly were bribed, were treated into collecting huge sums of money to support offshore in this country. That law put a huge blow into our economy not only here in northern Nigeria but all other states.”
On the disparity between the poor and the rich, he said: “We have seen the efforts of some people to make the poor poorer and the rich richer and I believe this is more dangerous”.
