Guber election: Kano electorate go spiritual… Kill camels, cows as sacrifice; Travel to Mecca for special prayers

Barely a week to the date of the re-run of the governorship election in some polling stations in Kano state, electorates have thronged places of worship within and outside the country to seek divine intervention.

Kano state was among the six states where gubernatorial election was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The gubernatorial candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abba Kabir Yusuf had polled a total of 1,014,353 votes ahead of the candidate of  All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje  who secured 953,522 votes in the governorship election of the state. The total margin between both APC and PDP candidates was 26,000 while total votes cancelled was 141,694.

The electoral umpire had since fixed March 23rd for supplementary election.

But several members of the two major political parties APC and PDP have gone spiritual by embarking on non-obligatory prayers and fasting seeking divine intervention and making animal sacrifices at various local governments across the state.

PRNigeria observed that depending on the political divide, supporters in their thousands have trooped to various praying sites, some outside the mosques with selected Imams leading them in special prayers against political manipulation and electoral frauds in the state.

Some businessmen have also sponsored ‘prayer warriors’ on a pilgrimage to the Holy lands in Saudia Arabia for God’s intervention in the forthcoming re-run election.

In one of the videos obtained by PRNigeria, a business man in Saudi Arabia, said that many pilgrims were expected from Nigeria for the special prayers over Kano re-run election.

The businessman said: “We have finalised all arrangements for pilgrims coming to the Holy land in Saudi Arabia for payers for peace in Kano in the next election. On arrival, they would move to the Grand Mosque of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Madina for special morning prayers, and thereafter proceed to the Grand Mosque in Mecca for special evening prayers while the following day, they would proceed to a special mosque on the way to Jeddah International Airport.

“Meanwhile, we have made provisions for vehicles, accommodation and feeding for all intending pilgrims for this special prayer against political crises in our beloved city of Kano in the forthcoming election…. As we have also purchased the sacrificial rams to be slaughtered.”

Apart from prayers offered in various places, sacrificial animals were also slaughtered in office premises, personal residences and public places in Kano as part of efforts to seek the face of Almighty God to favour their candidates.

PRNigeria gathered that some of the slaughtered animals for the sacrifice included camels, cows, rams, goats among others.

Meanwhile, the state has also witnessed peaceful protests by youths in their thousands, chanting as they marched through some major streets within Kano city.

One of the groups terminated their protest at the Kano Emir’s Palace, where they performed special prayers at the palace pavilion.  Similar protests were recorded across the state.