April 17, (THEWILL)- being the date fixed by a High Court in Kano State for the arraignment of a former Governor of the state and current National Chairman of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, Alhaji Umar Ganduje, over the alleged ‘Gandollar saga’ in 2018, may come and go without much notice, just as it will continue to generate controversy in the public domain over time.
For one, the legal tussle between the Kano State Government and the former governor is standing in the way of a case. While the state government maintains that it has power to try the case, the former governor insists that “the so-called” bribery case is only within the jurisdiction of the federal courts. According to the Attorney-General of the state and Commissioner for Justice, Alhaji Haruna Dederi, Section 211 of the 1999 Constitution and Sections 121(1), 126(b) and 377 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, 2019, empowers him “to apply to prefer the charge attached herewith against the defendants.”
The Kano State High Court in the Judicial (N.N) Form 2 or “Summons to an Accused Person” stated that Ganduje is to be arraigned at 9 am before Justice Usman Na’aba, sitting in Courtroom 4 this coming Wednesday. He will be arraigned alongside his wife, Hafsat, son, Umar and five others on eight counts, bordering on $413,000 and N1.38bn bribery. According to the charges, the state government alleged that, “You, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, sometime between the period of January 10, 2016 or thereabouts, at Kano in the Kano Judicial Division, while serving as the Governor of Kano State and being a public servant in the government of Kano State corruptly asked for and received the sum of $200,000 being benefit for yourself from one of the beneficiaries of contracts awarded by the Kano State Government on your instruction and approval as part of your function as the Governor of Kano State, thereby committing the offence of official corruption, contrary to and punishable under Section 22 of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission Law 2008 (as amended), Law No 2 of 2009, Laws of Kano State of Nigeria.”
In the second count, the state government said that Ganduje on February 10, 2017 “dishonestly and/or corruptly to your own advantage, collected a kick-back of the sum of $ 213,000, being money generated 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 a bribe through one of the contractors (agent).” In another count, the state alleged that Ganduje, between September 2020 and march 2021, “together with one Hafsat Umar (your spouse) and Abubakar Bawuro, a businessman, Safari Textile Ltd, a limited liability company, wholly owned and maintained by the 3rd defendant, agreed to do an illegal act to wit: dishonestly converted to your own use the sum of N1,376,000,000 through account No. 7085982019 belonging to the 3rd defendant being money earmarked and approved for the purchase and supply of face masks and other hospital equipment for the health sector, thereby causing wrongful loss to the people and the government of Kano State and thereby jointly committed the offence of criminal conspiracy, contrary to Section 96 and punishable under section 97 of The penal code (as amended) CAP,105, Vol.2. The Laws of Kano State of Nigeria, 1991.”
The Kano State Government said it had assembled 15 witnesses to testify against them. THEWILL gathered that Jaafar Jaafar, the publisher of Daily Nigeria, an online publication which published the controversial video clip in 2018 showing Governor Ganduje stuffing his over flowing robes with wads of dollar currencies, is said to be ready to supply more of the videos. The videos have been reportedly authenticated by a forensic expert. He had fled to London following claims that his life was in danger. Meanwhile, Ganduje has labelled his successor a vindictive politician who he accused of trying to undo his stellar performance as governor between 2015- 2023 The former governor’s spokesperson, Edwin Olofu, dismissed the statae government’s move as an attempt to malign his boss and waste state resources on a matter that was in the jurisdiction of the Federal Government. He said, “I will simply urge those concerned to refer to the said judgment of the Federal High Court and take a cue from it so as to be well guided, in their attempt to prosecute, so that public funds will not be dissipated without achieving any success; more so to avoid what will be termed an abuse of court process.”
The Federal High Court in Kano on Tuesday, March 6 ruled that the Kano Public Compliant and Anti-Corruption Commission lacks the power to investigate Ganduje over an alleged bribery video. Justice Abdullahi Liman said the Kano Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, KPCAC, was limited by law as the matter was a federal offence that could be prosecuted by the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. He said, “The offence is a federal offence and ought to have been reported before the Attorney-General of the Federation and Economic Finance Crimes Commission.
The scope of the anti-corruption is limited to specific power to investigate federal offences.” In his reaction, counsel for the anti-graft agency, Usman Umar Fari, said they would appeal the ruling at the Court of Appeal. Ganduje, through his counsel, Matthew Burkaa (SAN), had earlier filed a fundamental rights suit in July 2023 to restrain PCACC from arresting, investigating and inviting him in the alleged dollar video. Also, while in office as governor, Ganduje had filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja to restrain the EFCC from taking any step to invite, interrogate and investigate the Executive Chairman, Director of State Universal Basic Education, SUBEB and the Accountant-General of Kano State in connection with the video clips of bribery allegations against him. The current government, however, has vacated that suit, and urged the EFCC to release the forensic investigation it conducted on ‘Gandollar saga’ in 2018, for public consumption.
“The administration of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf emphasised that it would leave no stone unturned to pursue the dollar video scandal to a logical conclusion”, Yusuf, an aide to the governor said last week. Apart from these criminal charges against Ganduje, his wife, Hafsat, son, Umar and five others, the Abba Yusuf Administration has also set up two panels to probe the ex-governor’s eight-year administration. Either way, said sources, the governor is set to have his way while the drama unfolds.
About the Author
Amos Esele is the Deputy Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
