The escalating gang violence in Kano State is spiraling out of control, with ordinary residents now becoming victims in the cycle of revenge killings among thugs.

Last weekend, a clash between rival gangs in Kurna Mayanka, Yan Yashi, and Tudun Fulani led to the deaths of four people. Among them was Usman Hamidan, who was brutally murdered inside his own home.

OSUNDAILY NG spoke with his mother, Hajiya Habi Hamidan, an elderly woman of nearly 80 who is battling paralysis and has been left shattered by the loss of her only son.

“They broke into our house in the middle of the night while I was lying down sick in my room. I suddenly heard his screams in the courtyard as they were slaughtering him. When I looked, I saw four of them, they covered their faces with masks. I was crying, begging them not to kill my son, but they told me they were sent just to kill him and wouldn’t leave until they completed their mission,” she recounted tearfully.

Hajiya Habi said she watched helplessly as they beheaded her son, his brains spilling on the floor, before they opened the gate and walked out.

“The whole place looked like abbatoir, blood everywhere. They even licked the blood from their knives as I watched. He was my only son, the one who took care of me, fed me, and helped me since I became paralyzed. They killed him. Allah will judge them,” she said, weeping.

Apart from Usman, several others in Kurna, Ungogo Local Government Area, have reportedly been murdered in similar attacks, with assailants storming homes to execute victims.

The local vigilante chairman, Alhaji Bashir Lawal Moriki, blamed parents for shielding their children, enabling them to continue criminal acts unchecked.

“This is the parents’ fault because these boys are from this community, not from the sky. We have to correct our own before change can happen. I swear, even if it’s my own son, if he does such a thing, I will hand him over to the authorities,” Moriki said.

A young security guard, Sabiu, who narrowly escaped death after being attacked with knives, described his ordeal.

He said, “They flashed a dazzling light in my eyes, and before I understood what was happening, I felt cuts and blows all over my body. You can see the wounds on my head,” Sabiu said.

Residents in the area blame widespread drug abuse among youth as a major factor fueling these violent gang activities.

They also accuse the police of arresting innocent youths after these incidents, further increasing fear in the community.

During a visit to the area, Kano State Commissioner for Internal Security, Air Vice Marshal Ibrahim Umar (Rtd.), urged residents to protect themselves, before security agencies arrive if such attacks occur again.

OSUNDAILY NG’s attempt to reach the spokesperson of the Kano State Police Command for comments on the allegations of indiscriminate arrests and ongoing investigations but it was not successful.

The gang violence in Kano appears to be taking a new, deadlier turn, with thugs now invading homes and killing residents, unlike in the past when attacks often occurred openly during the day.

A Kaduna State High Court sitting in the metropolis has sentenced one Abdullahi Haladu to five years imprisonment for defrauding a land buyer of N1.55 million.

Justice Darius Khobo delivered the ruling following Haladu’s conviction on an amended three-count charge of conspiracy and cheating brought against him by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

According to the EFCC, Haladu and his accomplice, Kabiru Liman (already convicted), conspired in April 2021 to falsely present themselves as owners of a plot of land located at Mangoron Agwai, Sabon Gari Malalin Gabas.

They fraudulently sold the land measuring 105×45 feet to one Malam Sani Isyak for N1,550,000 and signed a sales agreement, despite having no legal authority over the property.
The deception was uncovered when the buyer discovered the transaction was fake and petitioned the EFCC, leading to Haladu’s arrest and prosecution.

When arraigned, the defendant pleaded guilty to the charges. In response, the EFCC counsel, M.E. Eimonye, urged the court to convict him accordingly.

Justice Khobo sentenced Haladu to five years in prison, with an option of a N200,000 fine. The court also ordered him to make full restitution to the victim.

As Nigeria inches toward the 2027 general elections, President Bola Tinubu is facing growing resistance from within his own political family.

This is just as key allies of former President Muhammadu Buhari, once united under the All Progressives Congress, APC, banner, are now aligning with opposition forces to stop Tinubu’s second-term ambition, OSUNDAILY NG has observed.

What started as quiet disagreements among key figures in the APC has now grown into open resistance, driven by some of the most trusted allies of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Prominent figures like ex-Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai, former SGF, Babachir Lawal, as well as former ministers also in Buhari’s cabinet, Rotimi Amaechi, and Abubakar Malami, once pillars of the APC, are now rallying around a new opposition alliance, raising fresh questions about unity in the ruling party. A former National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun is also not left out.

This emerging coalition recently found a new political vehicle in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which has controversially adopted former Senate President David Mark as interim national chairman and ex-Governor Rauf Aregbesola as secretary.

The cracks within the APC are not new. Tinubu, who played a pivotal role in Buhari’s ascension to the presidency in 2015, now finds himself increasingly isolated from those he once helped empower.

The APC was formed in 2013 as a coalition of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Buhari’s CPC, and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

The union, though strategic, was always fragile. Buhari’s successful 2015 run, his fourth presidential attempt, was largely credited to Tinubu’s political machinery in the South-West and key alliances with northern heavyweights like El-Rufai and Amaechi in the South.

By 2023, however, the tide had turned. Tinubu, who described his presidential bid as a “lifelong ambition,” clinched the APC ticket against fierce opposition within the party.

He triumphed in a general election marred by currency redesign chaos, the controversial Muslim-Muslim ticket, and questions about his health and coherence on the campaign trail.

Significantly, he lost in all three ‘K states’: Kano, Kaduna, and Katsina, long considered strongholds of Buhari’s northern base, but still clinched the presidential seat.

The relationship between Tinubu and Nasir El-Rufai was always politically transactional.

After initially being nominated for a ministerial role in Tinubu’s cabinet, El-Rufai was dropped following a security report. Their fallout was swift and bitter.

“Forgive me for bringing this evil Tinubu to power in 2023. It won’t happen again in 2027. The guy is gone,” El-Rufai reportedly told a group of supporters in May, a quote that went viral on social media and emboldened anti-Tinubu elements in the North.

El-Rufai, a former FCT Minister and a strong critic of Asiwaju, has since defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), where he is reportedly helping midwife the broader coalition that includes elements from the ADC, PDP, SDP, and disenfranchised APC members.

Yet, while the coalition appears formidable on paper, with political veterans like Atiku Abubakar, Sule Lamido, David Mark, Tambuwal, Amaechi, and Babachir Lawal on board, questions remain about its cohesion and ideological clarity.

Even Dumebi Kachikwu, the ADC’s 2023 presidential candidate, has dismissed the coalition’s move as illegitimate, noting that they are working with a defunct leadership of the party.

“The coalition is dealing with people whose tenure expired in 2022. We are watching with amusement,” Kachikwu said in a statement.

Despite the opposition, Tinubu is no political novice. Dubbed the “master strategist” for his role in shaping the APC and delivering Lagos to the opposition in 1999, he has weathered countless political storms.

A senior aide to Tinubu, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president is “unfazed” by the coalition and is already reconfiguring his alliances.

“Remember 2023? They said he wouldn’t survive the Muslim-Muslim backlash. They said he wouldn’t win the APC ticket. He did both. Don’t write him off,” the aide said.

Tinubu is also reportedly in talks with key northern traditional and political power blocs to rebuild trust, particularly in states he lost during the last cycle.

Also, there are claims in some quarters that Tinubu may likely drop his vice, Shettima, and settle for Rabiu Kwankwaso from Kano State.

With the PDP fractured and the APC facing a mutiny from within, 2027 could reshape Nigeria’s political order yet again. But for now, both camps are playing the long game.

Meanwhile, some loyalists of former President Muhammadu Buhari, under the aegis of the Forum of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), recently declared support for President Bola Tinubu.

Those who met in Abuja on Thursday and declared support for the president included the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas (who sent in his apologies); Katsina State Governor, Dr. Dikko Radda; Niger State Governor, Umar Bago (who also sent in his apologies); Foreign Affairs Minister, Maitama Tuggar; former Governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Tanko Al-Makura; former Katsina State Governor and ex-House Speaker, Aminu Bello Masari; and Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), General Buba Marwa (retd).

They said that while individuals have a right to pursue their political ambitions elsewhere, they do not have to do so under the cloak of “defunct CPC members.”

Answering a question about whether the bloc would still support Tinubu, one of the leaders, Hon. Farouk Adamu, expressed optimism that the president would be its candidate even in 2027.

“We are with Tinubu just like our leader (Buhari), and secondly, it is our conviction that Tinubu will continue to be our candidate in 2027,” he said.

The anti-Tinubu coalition believes it can recreate the 2015 miracle, when disparate opposition forces united to unseat a sitting president.

But Tinubu, whose political playbook remains unpredictable, might just have a few surprises left.

And in Nigerian politics, underestimating a master tactician often comes at a high cost.

List of Buhari’s loyalists, associates in ADC

Rotimi Amaechi

Abubakar Malami

Hadi Sirika – Buhari’s nephew

Rauf Aregbesola

Kashim Imam

Chief John Odigie Oyegun