The crowd that received the Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Abubakar Atiku in Kano was remarkably mammoth and vivacious.
The roads were virtually blocked making it difficult for the long truck that carried Atiku and his entourage comprising Mallam Kwankwanso, Bukola Saraki, Uche Secondus and Peter Obi from the airport to the residence of Mallam Aminu Kano, the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and then on to the Sani Abacha Stadium.
According to Chief Okey and Ladan Salihu, TV personalities, who ran commentaries on the Kano rally, the roads that led to the various venues, where Atiku went, were besieged by a sea of people that the truck carrying Atiku and his team had to snake and snail through them. Salihu reported that it took over four hours for Atiku to make his way through to the stadium, where Atiku was welcomed by the crowd made, mainly, of the Kwankwasiya movement, whose members, traditionally, adorned their heads with red caps. The Kwankwasiyya movement is a political movement formed by former governor of Kano State, Musa Kwankwaso.
The crowd surged and thronged into the stadium that was already filled to an overflowing capacity, that by the time Atiku and his men found their way into the venue, it had become inaccessible for them to come down.
Salihu and Okey described the crowd as” the mother of all crowds, electric, unprecedented, beyond comparison, fantastic, we have not seen such a crowd before. The security people are having a hell of time controlling it”.
Their commentaries matched the live visuals that were shown by the African Independent Television (AIT).
Only Mallam Kwankwaso was able to come down from the truck to speak to the crowd at the dais prepared for them to speak from. He had to squeeze himself in the crowd that had at this time occupied the stand.
An elated PDP Chairman, the only one who addressed the crowd in English said, there is a revolution going on in Kano. Kano has fallen (to PDP). Saraki, who spoke in Hausa language, beamed with smiles all through, so, was Atiku, who appeared dazed by what he saw that words failed him. He too spoke few words in Hausa.
