Anita Ogona
The Kano state government has filed an eight-count charge against Abdullahi Ganduje, currently National chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and former governor of the state, over allegations of receiving $200,000 as bribe from a contractor. In a charge sheet filed before a Kano high court, the state government said the offence contravened Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission Law of 2008.
Listed as defendants in the case are Abdullahi Ganduje as first defendant, Hafsat Umar, Abubakar Bawuro, Umar Abdullahi Umar, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Limited, Safari Textiles Limited, and Lesaga General Enterprises as second to ninth defendants respectively. The state government also accused Ganduje of collecting $210,000 kickback from “people and entities seeking or holding the execution of Kano State Government contract and or project for the remodeling of Kantin Kwari textile market as bribe through one of the contractors (agent)”.
In 2018, Daily Nigerian, an online newspaper, published a video of Ganduje allegedly receiving bundles of dollars from contractors, which he stuffed into his “babanriga”, a traditional outfit
The newspaper said the former governor requested $5 million as bribe from the contractors who recorded the video.
The state government said a forensic expert would analyze the video, showing the former governor receiving dollar notes from a contractor. In 2023, the Kano state Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC) invited Ganduje, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who served as governor of Kano from 2015 to 2023, for questioning over the incident in the video.
The former governor did not honour the invitation but went on to institute a suit against the agency. In March, a federal high court in Kano stopped the agency from inviting or questioning Ganduje over the bribery allegations. The court ruled that the agency lacks the power to invite or investigate Ganduje over the allegations.
Abdullahi Liman, the presiding judge, said the alleged infraction is a federal offence that cannot be prosecuted by the state anti-graft agency.
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