The leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement and 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has alleged plans by Lagos to dominate and impose control over the northern region.
Speaking at the convocation ceremony of Skyline University in Kano, the former Kano State governor claimed that Lagos has been meddling in Kano’s emirate affairs and attempting to centralize tax revenues in its favour.
He also alleged that young people in Lagos were actively working to redirect taxes generated in Kano and other northern states to Lagos. Kwankwaso pointed out that even businesses and banks originally established in northern Nigeria have been pressured to relocate their headquarters to Lagos, thereby diverting taxes to the southern state.
Kwankwaso stated, “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.”
Kwankwaso 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.”
The former governor lamented the economic disparity in the country saying, “We have seen the efforts of some people to make the poor poorer and the rich richer and I believe this is more dangerous.”
Kwankwaso therefore called on the lawmakers from the northern part of the country to wake up and make sure the region is not cheated in any way.
“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,” he added.
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