Gwarzo residents protest’ Kano govt’s plan to demolish bridge
Residents of Gwarzo town in Kano State have protested over alleged plan by Gov. Abba Yusuf to demolish a bridge in the town reconstructed by Deputy Senate President, Sen. Barau Jibrin.
The bridge, located along Gwarzo bypass, was washed away three weeks ago after a torrential rain.
Residents of the area approached the opposition lawmaker, who represents the area in the Senate, to help fix the damaged bridge.
Jibrin, a member of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), responded promptly and the repair work on the bridge was completed on Friday.
A driver, Sule Wanzam, who witnessed the protest said residents started protesting on Friday after they learned that the governor was making moves to demolish the bridge for political reasons. The protest continued on Saturday morning.
The bridge is on the road leading to the residence of the state Deputy Governor, Aminu Abdulsalam.
“The bridge connects to the residence of the state’s deputy governor, Aminu Abdulsalam, which made some of the government officials and members of his party, the New Nigeria People Party in the town to feel offended over the speedy construction of the bridge by Jibrin, who is a member of the APC.”
However, the residents said they would not allow anyone to demolish the bridge because of myopic political interest.
The protest has raised tension in the area as supporters of APC and NNPP took opposing stand on the issue.
When contacted, the Commissioner for Works, Marwan Ahmad, said the state government has not decided on the fate of the bridge.
He claimed that Jibrin did not obtain permission before repairing the bridge, which is on a state road.
“It’s the work of the state government but they went ahead to do it. Even at that, they ought to have sought our approval,” he asserted.
The commissioner claimed that the Senator reconstructed the bridge while the state ggovernment was going through bureaucratic process on fixing the bridge.
“We have completed all the processes and we were about to start the work when they went and started it.
“The problem emanated from the reluctance to seek approval before embarking on the work. If they had sought our approval we would have briefed them about our level of engagement about the repairing of the bridge.
“I can’t say whether the work will be demolished or not until the government decides on the next steps,” Ahmad said.
But one of the aides of the deputy senate president, Muktar Gora, said the local government council okayed the request of the lawmaker to embark on the project.
“The local government council approved our request. It’s an emergency work that affects the lives of the locals, and we can’t fold our hands to see our people suffering.
“We decided to take the emergency work following the request of the locals and the work has been done with the consent of the local government council,” Mr Gora said.
