The Kano state anti-corruption and public complaints commission has announced it has filed new charges of corruption and maladministration against the ex-governor of the state and national chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje.
The commission alleged, in the new filing, that the Ganduje administration took up to ₦1 billion from the state coffers a month to the expiration of the administration’s tenure. They argued that the money was sent to Bureau de Change (BDC) operators and not used for road renovation as earmarked.
The chairman of the anti-graft agency, Muhuyi Magaji, in an interview said “What is happening now is a tip of the iceberg, we are investigating a case whereby N51.3bn local government funds were directly taking from the government coffers (and) sent to other individuals, and we traced it to people.”
“We have piled series of cases. We have a case whereby N1bn in April last year (2023) was removed from government coffers under the allocation of renovating 30 roads in the metropolis and it was taken away, sent to Bureau de Change.
“We have a case of N4bn whereby it was sent from the consolidated revenue account of Kano State to an agricultural company. All these cases are before the court,”
Mr. Magaji said who was appointed to head the commission by the Ganduje sort to debunk allegations of bias and abuse of office. “Incidentally, His Excellency, the former governor was the one that appointed me in 2015 to to head the agency and I was re-appointed in 2020 for another five-year term. Basically, we have an institution in the Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission that is devoid political activities and dedicated to fight corruption, check maladministration and fight injustice.” But he insists there should be no sacred cows and defended his personal conducts, saying he’s not as stubborn as he’s been portrayed.
“That is the beauty of what we are doing. In Nigeria, we are not supposed to have those that will be shielded. Even, we that are in the anti-corruption agency, our integrity has been tested. And that is how it is supposed to be. Anybody that is charged before the court of law, let him go and answer.”
