By Lanre Oloyede
Ahead of his arraignment at the Kano State High Court on Wednesday, April 17, the state Anti-corruption and Public Complaints Commission has filed fresh charges against former governor and National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje.
Chairman of the agency, Muhuyi Magaji who disclosed this when he appeared on a National Television programme, on Tuesday, said the ex-governor is being investigated in an alleged corruption case involving N51 billion during his administration between 2015 and 2023.
Magaji stated that towards the end of his administration, Ganduje withdrew N1 billion from the state’s coffers meant for the rehabilitation of roads within the metropolis but that the sum was allegedly diverted.
“What is happening now is a tip of the iceberg. As I am talking to you, we are investigating a case whereby N51.3 billion local government funds were directly taken from the government coffers (and) sent to other individuals, and we traced it to people,” Magaji said.
According to Magaji, some of the new charges are based on frauds perpetrated towards the end of Ganduje‘s administration.
“We have piled a series of cases. We have a case whereby N1 billion in April last year 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 N4 billion whereby it was sent from the consolidated revenue account of Kano state to an agricultural company. All these cases are before the court.
“Basically, we have an institution in the Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC) that is devoid of political activities and dedicated to fight corruption, check maladministration and fight injustice,” the agency boss said.
Ganduje will on Wednesday, April 17, be arraigned at the Kano High Court on charges bordering on allegations of bribery, diversion, and misappropriation of funds, including the purported acceptance of $413,000 and N1.38bn in bribes, alongside his wife, Hajia Hafsat Umar, and six others.
The other accused as listed in the writ of summon include Abubakar Bawuro, Umar Abdullahi Umar, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Ltd, Safari Textiles Ltd, and Lesage General Enterprises.
The state government had already initiated a criminal suit against the former governor and had declared its readiness to present 15 witnesses to testify before Justice Usman Na’aba of State High Court.
