Dollar video: Submit yourself for trial, group tells Ganduje

Forum 9 months ago

Dollar video: Submit yourself for trial, group tells Ganduje

A group in Kano State, Movement Against Corruption in Nigeria, has challenged the immediate-past Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, to submit himself to the Kano State Anti-Corruption Commission, seeking to prosecute him for alleged bribery.

The Kano State Anti-Corruption Commission had said it was reopening investigation into a video in which Ganduje was seen obstensibly taking bribes, by collecting dollar bills from some contractors and stuffing the same into his pockets.

But Ganduje had repeatedly denied the allegation, saying the video was doctored.

While addressing journalists in Kano on Sunday, MACIN challenged Ganduje to submit himself for prosecution.

The convener and co-convener of the group, Kabiru Dakatar and Michael Nworiso, respectively, accused Ganduje of using delay tactics to frustrate the case.

“This delay tactics he (Ganduje) is using will indicate that he is indirectly admitting the allegations that he collected $5m but does not want to be investigated.

“He is using delay tactics in court to stop inviting, arresting or investigating him on the allegations. To actualise this, he already obtained a court order, stopping the Kano Anti-Corruption Commission, DSS and police from arresting or investigating him.”

The group urged President Bola Tinubu to distance himself from Ganduje, so that Nigeria would not be seen as being tolerant of corruption.

“We appeal to President Bola Tinubu to distance his cabinet from people like Ganduje, so that the international community will not tag Nigeria as fantastically corrupt.

“Hiding under the image of the brand new administration of Bola Tinubu, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ganduje’s political associates have started bragging that they are the owners of the Presidency and nobody can investigate Ganduje.

“This also buttresses their long-time praise of Ganduje as ‘Kano ci banzai Baba’, meaning ‘You ate the loot, nothing will happen’.”

But in a swift reaction, the immediate-past Kano State Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Information, Mallam Mohammed Garba, said the group lacked credibility and should not be taken seriously.

According to Garba, the lead convener, Dakata, is being sponsored to discredit Ganduje.

“Dakata, who has been a card-carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party and now the New Nigeria People’s Party, has always been hiding under the guise of his ‘brief case’ non-governmental organisations, which he used to denigrate the former administration in the state,” Garba said.

The ex-commissioner said he recalled that Dakata recently organised a series of press conferences to position himself for government appointment.

“His current open romance with the NNPP government discredits him even from his assumed position, as an analyst on current affairs, where he features on radio stations programmes to discredit the former Ganduje-led administration of Kano State.

“These shameful acts amount to jeopardising the operations of genuine NGOs. We call on unsuspecting members of the public, particularly the NGO community, to watch out for people who are being paid to operate fake organisations in order to discredit individuals, governments or organisations,” Garba said.