The dirty past of the immediate former governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has reared its ugly head as the new governor of the state Abba Kabir Yusuf has directed the state’s Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate and prosecute the former governor for his involvement in the dollar-gate which is not attractive to a decent government
By Miracle Egbo
When he held sway as the governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje hogged the headlines of major newspapers because of the way and manner he was alleged to have been involved in the collection of kickbacks from foreign contractors in the state. He was said to have been captured in a camera collecting bribe in foreign currency from a contract awarded for road construction in the state. A popular online newspaper, Daily Nigerian published a video clip allegedly showing the former governor stacking his pockets with bales of dollars suspected to be a kickback from contractors. The immunity he enjoyed as a sitting governor appeared to have evaporated now that he is an ordinary citizen of the state as his traducers have escalated the need for him to be made to pay for encouraging bribe collection when contracts were awarded. The Pentecostal whiff with which the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari defended him and protected him throughout the dollar-gate saga and other sundry infractions Ganduje was involved in for eight years that he held sway as the Lord of Manor in the state has simmered and it is payback time.
After May 29, 2023 when the new administration led by Abba Kabir Yusuf took over the mantle of leadership in the state, the new mint governor on the platform of New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP set the ball rolling when the state’s Public Conduct and Anti-corruption Commission decided to reopen the dollar-gate. The Commission headed by Muhuyi Rimingado had hinted that it was going to revisit the case and go beyond the terms of reference of the commission by investigating all the financial infractions committed during the reign of Ganduje as the governor of the state. The commission had earlier sent a letter of invitation to the former governor to come and clear grey areas in his involvement in the dollar-gate that rocked his tenure as the governor of the state.
Rimigando, chairman of the commission said that “We have forensic arrangement with experts to analyze the video and would do everything possible to investigate the matter and any other issues regarding corruption in Kano State. Following up on our promise to follow due process as usual in the investigation, the commission is expecting the former governor to appear before it to have the opportunity to clear his name. We will provide ample opportunity for him to defend himself; we will follow all the necessary steps to do what is needful”.
The supporters of the former governor and the All Progressives Congress, APC in the state went to town with the narrative that the new administration in the state is bent on witch-hunting the former governor, Ganduje, a move they alleged is influenced by the presidential candidate of NNPP in the last controversial presidential election, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso whom they alleged that the new governor, Yusuf, is his sidekick.
In one of the press conferences organized by the supporters of Ganduje in Abuja recently, they asked the man they referred as their “hero’ to ignore subpoena extended to him by the commission set up by the new administration in the state, adding that if they want to probe they should start from the former governors of the state before their hero’s tenure in the state, anything short of that should be ignored. At the press conference, his supporters averred that their hero was not guilty as they are about to portray him. In the same vein, APC chapter in the state in a statement made available to this medium signed by the Secretary of the party, Alhaji Abdullahi Abass said that the invitation was politically motivated and would be resisted by every legal means.
“The party said it had realized that the reenactment of the politically motivated issue of dollar video by the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP which is before a court of law was part of a sinister ploy to dent the image of the former governor.
“It further explained that a similar scenario was played to scuttle the former governor’s chance of securing a ticket for the party’s gubernatorial election in 2019. This time the detractors are engaged in this campaign of calumny to draw a wedge between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Ganduje, one of the strongest allies of President in the north”.
Buoyed by the avalanche of supporters and verbal assurance from the presidency that he is going to be protected no matter the bashing from the new government in his state, the verbal assurance from the presidency was the dividend of his visit to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa recently. In order to appear civil in his defense, the immediate former governor of the state has approached a Federal High Court sitting in Kano to obtain an injunction restraining the Anti- Corruption Commission from inviting him to appear before it. The injunction from the court had stalled the sitting of the commission. However, information pieced by this medium revealed that the new administration is making frantic efforts to vacate the order so that it can go ahead to prosecute the former governor whom they described as a disaster that happened in the state.
It was gathered that there is subtle move by the Economic and Financial Crimes commission, EFCC to invite him for some explanation but the intervention of the presidency that hitherto had assured him of protection from any prosecution by his political traducers in the state.
