A civil society group in Kano has called on Nigeria’s federal government to investigate the withdrawal of police from the state’s Independence Day parade, which it described as an act of “sabotage.”
The One Kano Agenda, a non-profit organisation, said the Kano State Police Command pulled out less than 30 minutes before the 65th Independence Day celebrations began, leaving the event disrupted while other states held theirs without interruption.
“This withdrawal, under unclear and suspicious directives, was more than a logistical setback; it was an affront to the spirit of independence itself,” the group’s director-general, Abbas Abdullahi Yakasai, told reporters on Thursday.
He said the incident raised suspicions of political interference and humiliated Kano, undermining both the state and the symbolic value of the national holiday.
The organisation urged the federal government to carry out a full probe and hold accountable those responsible, warning that security agencies must not be drawn into political disputes.
One Kano Agenda also alleged that the withdrawal was part of repeated attempts to destabilise the state by interfering in cultural and social activities.
Yakasai appealed to citizens, particularly young people, not to be provoked into violence, praising residents who continued the celebrations despite the disruption.
“The determination of a people never to be broken is the real meaning of independence,” he said.