The governor of Kano State, Abba Kabir Yusuf, on Wednesday sharply criticized the state’s commissioner of police after the police command pulled out of Nigeria’s Independence Day parade in the state, calling the action partisan and an affront to national unity.
Speaking before crowds gathered to mark the country’s 65th Independence anniversary, Mr. Yusuf accused Commissioner Ibrahim Adamu Bakori of deliberately withdrawing officers from the celebration in a move he said embarrassed the state on a historic day.
“As you can see, on this historic and independent anniversary of Nigeria, he decided to pull out of the parade along with his own personnel,” the governor said. “This is for reasons pertinent to him and pertinent to his people. Let me say that Kano State’s Chief Security Officer, on behalf of the government, are not happy with this attitude of the Commissioner of Police.”
The governor’s remarks, made at the climax of the ceremony, underscored the fragile relationship between state officials and federal security institutions in Nigeria, where police commissioners report to the federal government rather than to governors, even though governors are constitutionally designated as their states’ “chief security officers.”
Mr. Yusuf accused the police of partisanship and warned that their absence risked undermining public trust in law enforcement.
“Security agencies, in Kano in particular, they shouldn’t be involving themselves in partisan politics, which will do no good to all of us in Kano State and in Nigeria of course,” he said. “I would like to seize this opportunity as a Nigerian, as a Kano citizen, and as the Chief Security Officer of Kano State, to condemn the unethical and partisan attitude of the current Commissioner of Police.”
The governor added that despite the boycott, the city had remained peaceful and eager to celebrate. “Today, every Nigerian is happy to celebrate the independence of this country,” he said. “The good people of Kano are peace-loving people. They have been looking for this day, when we all gather here, to celebrate the independence of our country.”
He further described the commissioner’s last-minute decision to withdraw as politically motivated. “When our rights is written today in court, yet the Commissioner of Police decided to withdraw at the last minute,” Mr. Yusuf said. “This is unethical. This is disloyalty to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
While Mr. Yusuf praised other security agencies for attending, he emphasized his displeasure that the police, a central figure in such ceremonies, had absented themselves.
When contacted by reporters, Commissioner Bakori declined to explain the withdrawal. “I am on a condolence visit, I will call you back later,” he said.