Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 election and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, has raised concerns about what he perceives as efforts from Lagos to “colonize” the northern region of Nigeria.
Speaking at the convocation ceremony of Skyline University in Kano, Kwankwaso alleged undue interference in Kano’s governance and economic activities by forces based in Lagos.
Kwankwaso accused Lagos of meddling in the selection of Kano’s emir, claiming that Kano’s emir is being reduced to a “stooge,” with decisions regarding the emirate allegedly being dictated by Lagos.
“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,” he said.
Kwankwaso, a former minister of defence, also spoke on tax collection, saying, “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.”
He urged lawmakers from northern Nigeria to be vigilant and resist policies or legislation that might disadvantage their region.
He made reference to past events where he believed northern representatives in the National Assembly were coerced into supporting laws detrimental to their constituents, particularly regarding offshore economic arrangements.
“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,” he stated.