Alhassan Ado Doguwa, the majority leader of the House of Representatives, has described his recent remarks of vowing to unleash violence on electorates who fail to vote his political party as motivation.
The Doguwa/Tudun Wada representative stated this on Tuesday when he appeared on Channels Television, denying he threatened dissent voters while campaigning somewhere in Kano.
Last week, a video clip captured the moment the lawmaker made the threat, promising to deal with voters who fail to vote for the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).
His comments came weeks after the chairman of the APC in Kano vowed to ensure his party wins the state either by hook or crook.
Nigerians, particularly on social media, lampooned the majority leader of the House of Representatives for his remarks.
Defending himself, Mr Doguwa explained that the comments were meant to motivate electorates rather than threaten them. He said that has been the practice in the Northwest state during electioneering season.
“That is not a threat,” he explained. “I would never threaten our electorates. What you don’t know about Kano State (is that) Kano State is one very special political space. We have our special semantics in politics.
“We have the shenanigans we use during electioneering campaigns. Kano State is an aggressive state in terms of politics of ideology. In Kano State, we have our own way or approaches when it comes to campaigns. You must employ and use what will ginger your people.
“We have inherited this from time immemorial. Asking people to vote for APC or we deal with them simply means – like what you can call shenanigans, political brouhaha which we make simply to ‘ginger’ our supporters, to let them feel that we are on the ground and we will get it right.
“I never meant to intimidate, I never meant to threaten any of my voters. I’m a reasonable person. I have been in election processes for the past 32 years and I’ve never used threats or intimidation to win my elections.
“But you cannot take away political shenanigans, brouhaha, and sloganeering in Nigeria’s politics. Nigerians should not take this as a threat. It’s part of our political shenanigans and brouhaha. This is what we call the highlights of democracy in Kano politics and you cannot rule that out,” he added.
