Tension in Kano as IGP summons Gov Abba’s spokesman over Ganduje

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Since Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, the head of Nigeria’s police force, ordered Sanusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa, the spokesperson for Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, to appear at Force Headquarters in Abuja, political tension in Kano has persisted.

This most recent police invitation is connected to the contentious 2024 suspension of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the state’s political heavyweight and the national chairman of the APC.

According to the police, Dawakin-Tofa was largely responsible for the drama that resulted in Ganduje being temporarily removed by the party leaders in his ward.

The IGP requested that the Kano State Government release Dawakin-Tofa for interrogation in a formal letter dated May 23, 2025.

The letter stated that the governor’s assistant is under investigation for criminal defamation, impersonation, and behavior likely to create a breach of peace. It was signed by Akin Fakorede, the Deputy Commissioner of Police. The police want him to show up at Force Headquarters in Abuja on May 29 to meet with SP Mojirode B. Obisiji, one of their top officers.

Dawakin-Tofa has been the target of police pursuits before. A similar arrest order was issued in December 2024 on the same matter, which led to a court dispute between the Kano government and the police.

A long-running political rivalry between Ganduje and Dawakin-Tofa, who both come from the same Kano neighborhood, is at the center of this story.

Their antagonism dates back to 2015, when Dawakin-Tofa’s opposition during that year’s election is said to have led Ganduje, the then-governor-elect, to request his detention.

The APC executive committee in Ganduje’s ward suspended him in 2024; the party later denied this action, but it caused significant political repercussions.

Ganduje accused Dawakin-Tofa of orchestrating the entire affair to destroy him (Ganduje’s) in Kano, and fingers were instantly thrown in his direction.

Dawakin-Tofa obtained a court order protecting him from being arrested, detained, or harassed in response to the first police action against him last year.

The DSS, Civil Defence, and senior police officers involved in the case were all protected by that injunction in addition to the IGP. Nevertheless, the most recent police action has not been halted by that legal protection.

In the hopes that the Court of Appeal may provide redress, his legal team has since appealed a Kano High Court decision that dismissed his lawsuit against Ganduje and the police.

With the national elections in 2027 approaching, Kano’s political tensions are only growing more intense.

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