FAKE NEWS ALERT: Kano NOT planning to ban women from driving

The Kano state government has refuted the claim that it is planning to draft a bill prohibiting women from driving vehicles in the state.

Over the past few days, an unconfirmed report that went viral on social media claimed the state government in collaboration with the state’s Council of Ulama has concluded plans to send the bill to the house of assembly.

The report further claimed that the drafting of the bill is currently in progress at the state ministry of justice.

Reacting to the trending report, Muhmmad Garba, commissioner for information, in a statement, said the report cannot be traced to any credible news platform, adding that the state government had at no time contemplated the ban.

Garba said Saudi Arabia, which had for decades restricted women from driving, lifted the ban in 2018, noting that some of the scholars associated with the purported plan have refuted the report.

“He said the story, which could not be traced to any credible source, was nothing but the imaginary thinking of the authors,” the statement reads.

“The trending story lacks any credibility and that is why it is wholly attributed to a source that cannot be substantiated.

“Malam Garba pointed out that if at all there was such a plan, the state government does not have to be involved in any secretive meeting to decide on a critical issue that has to do with its teeming populace.

“The commissioner stated further that even Saudi Arabia which for decades had laws that sanctioned women from driving has, after all, lifted the ban in 2018.”

In the same vein, Abdullah Kaya, one of the scholars mentioned in the report for backing the purported bill, has described it as “fake news”.

“I, Abdullah Usman Umar Gadon Kaya, strongly say that this is a fake news. I don’t have any hands in it. It’s the act of enemies who want to crack peace in our dear state (Kano) and Nigeria at large,” he wrote on Facebook.