The march was organised under the platform of the Buhari Youth Organisation (BYO) for supporters to march across the city in solidarity with Buhari.
Kano is considered the largest voter base for Buhari in northern Nigeria. Hours to the event, the police issued a circular advising the organisers to stop the march and instead, hold it indoors.
They told the organisers that there should be no marching out of the venue in accordance with “a directive from above”.
The organisation had received four letters from the police command. The first conveyed approval by the Commissioner of Police for a March 13 request in respect of a notification for a political summit and a road march from the Sani Abacha Stadium to the Buhari Campaign Office along Maiduguri road.
The last letter came hours before the event saying the commissioner, based on a directive from the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Department of Operations Force Headquarters Abuja, had cancelled the procession.
“However, you can only hold the summit within the Sani Abacha Indoor Stadium on same date. The command regrets the inconveniences this might cause you”, the letter said. All the letters were signed by DCP Ibrahim S. Ka’oje
BYO North-west zonal coordinator, Engr. Garba Umar, said:
“To our surprise they told us that we should not march out so we decided to march into this venue (Sani Abacha Stadium). Initially, they asked us to shift the march to Monday and we told them no because we wanted to hold it on Saturday but they said we had to shift it today (Sunday). They said it was a directive from above”.
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