Nigeria, June 27 -- For all its allure as an ancient city celebrated for its commerce and culture, Kano State has often proven it retains one of Nigeria's darkest underbelly, with undercurrents that have never really been reluctant to flash their fangs. In 2024, as protests glided across the country reducing the promises of renewed hope by president Bola Tinubu to ruins, Kano State provided some of the fiercest flashpoints. The protesters, many of them out-of-school children, street urchins and vagrants, fell upon public property in the state. It was just one instance.

In May, an irate mob descended on the Rano Police Division in Kano State over the death of a suspect. They set parts of the station ablaze, vandalized police vehicles and ...