August 18, (THEWILL) – Efforts by the embattled Acting National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje to ward off the serial challenges bombarding him from many fronts appear to be yielding some results, no thanks to a persistent baptism of allegations against him.
Last Wednesday, Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State, disclosed that miscreants had looted from the State High Court, documents on corruption charges against the former governor of the state, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, his family and aides during the recent nationwide anti-hunger protests.
Ganduje has been facing multiple charges before the State High Court.
The governor’s Spokesperson, Sanusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, who disclosed this in a statement, said Governor Yusuf spoke when he paid an on-the-spot assessment visit to the Kano State High Court, which was vandalised by thugs during the protests.
“It is very unfortunate that enemies of Kano State hired undesirable elements to vandalise one of its historic public buildings with the intention to avert corruption charges against the Acting National Chairman of the APC and former governor of the state, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, his family and aides,” he said.
The governor said the miscreants destroyed virtually all units of the High Court, including the office of the State Chief Judge, with losses “amounting to more than N1 billion through the theft of office equipment, destruction of offices, burning of cars and other relevant materials crucial to the dispensation of justice”.
He urged the youth of the state to desist from being used by detractors to engage in violence. Instead, he said they should concentrate on skills acquisition for a better future, assuring that the state government would not relent in securing the lives and property of the people of the state.
Yusuf said the judiciary, as the last hope of the common man, must be protected at all costs. He ordered the rehabilitation of the building with immediate effect and deployment of adequate security for effective justice delivery.
He commiserated with the State Chief Judge, Dije Abdu Aboki, and the entire judiciary over the ugly incident and urged them “to brace up to cover what was lost in the court’s proceedings for the benefit of the common man”.
He commended the people of the state for their support and cooperation with the present administration in the state and prayed that the gesture would be sustained for the peace, stability, prosperity and economic development of the state.
Dr Ganduje replied swiftly to the government’s claims. According to his Chief Press Secretary, Edwin Olofu, “It is laughable that governance has been reduced to a huge joke in Kano State and the state government could descend so low as to suggest that demonstrators broke into a court and carefully selected documents relating to the trial of the APC National Chairman, handpicked them and took them away in this digital age, no discerning mind will buy into this pedestrian propaganda.
“What happened to the documents with the government lawyers? The state government is bereft of ideas on how to run the affairs of the state and it has always resorted to churning out myriads corruption allegations against the former governor of the state, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and his family who served the state diligently.
“This claim is nothing more than a desperate attempt by Governor Yusuf’s administration to divert attention from their culpability in the violence that erupted in the state.
“The insinuation that such critical documents could be carted away during a protest is not only far-fetched but also a clear indication of the state’s growing incompetence in handling both security and legal matters.”
Just as this revelation is yet to blow over comes reported moves by the governing party’s plan to ease Ganduje out of his current political position. On offer for the immediate past governor of Kano State is an ambassadorial appointment to any African country.
The reason, it was gathered, has political undertones. For one, the ongoing corruption allegation and trial he is facing in Kano appears to keep piling up and party officials fear the charges may rub off on the image of the party.
On the ongoing corruption trial, the former Kano governor is still insisting that “all the charges are tissues of lies,”, which he is sure of winning in the court.
Reports say that Ganduje is still reluctant to accept the ambassadorial arrangement, afraid that accepting it will remove him from the inner circle of political movers in the country.
The fact that President Bola Tinubu has given his approval for the diplomatic posting is said to have further confirmed Ganduje’s suspicion that he is being quietly relegated in the politics of the country.
Even so, political stakeholders from the North-Central geo-political zone in the party are still unrelenting in their demand to have the position of the National Chairman of the party ceded to them as of right since the resignation of Senator Adamu and ascension of Ganduje in acting capacity. Ganduje, who hails from North-West.
Mohammed Estu, in a recent letter addressed to President Tinubu on behalf of Concerned North-Central APC Stakeholders, urged the President to “resolve some of the issues agitating” their zone, “especially the issue concerning the zoning of party chairmanship back to the zone where the seat originally belongs.”
According to him, the emergence of Dr Ganduje was at a severe cost to our zone which has been left high and dry. We have not been adequately compensated. The North-Central zone as a collective is the party’s strongest zone politically today. Five out of the six states in the zone are controlled by the party. This is a high percentage.”
“But, more importantly, by ensuring that the chairmanship of the party is zoned back to the North-Central, the President will be ensuring that the year-long injustice to the zone is righted.
“Since the last reorganisation of the party, all the zones were adequately represented, except for the North-Central which has still been left in the cold. We want to also take our seat in the comity of our peers.’’
The North-Central has been insisting that the zone is yet to maximise its political gains since the emergence of the current President Tinubu administration and the President is said to be willing to heed their demand by returning the position of APC national chairman to the zone before the end of the year.
On the ongoing corruption trial, the former Kano governor is still insisting that, “all the charges are tissues of lies,”which he is sure of winning in the court.
Abdullahi Yusuf is a seasoned journalist, communicator and was previously the Deputy Editor-In-Chief and Zonal Manager, News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Jos, where he retired on December 15, 2021
