The National Chairman of All Progressives Congress and former governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, on Friday, warned Kano Governor Abba Yusuf to concentrate on bringing good governance to his people instead of embarking on a futile attempt to drag his name through the mud.
Ganduje was reacting to the decision of the Kano State Government to file criminal charges against him over alleged bribery of $413,000 and N1.38bn respectively.
Yusuf had on assumption of office in 2023 accused the former governor of misappropriating public funds and allocating plots of land to some members of his immediate family.
In a statement issued in Kano on Thursday, the state government disclosed that it had assembled 15 witnesses to testify against Ganduje.
Joined as co-defendants, as sighted in the charge sheet dated April 3, were Ganduje’s wife Hafsat and his son, Umar.
Also listed as defendants were Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Ltd, Safari Textiles Ltd and Lesage General Enterprises.
Reacting via a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Edwin Olofu, on Friday, Ganduje said the bribery allegation was an ‘unfortunate and sorry attempt’ to shift attention from the fact that there was nothing on ground in the state that the governor can use to justify the huge allocations he has been receiving since the inception of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The ex-governor said the development was the latest attempt by the state government to drag his name into the mud, adding that it also spoke volumes on the level of ‘crass ignorance and disregard for the rule of law’ by Kano governor.
He said, “In their desperate attempt to malign me and my family, they either forgot or probably cannot conduct themselves by the dictates of the law. They failed to take judicial notice of the recent pronouncement of the Federal High Court in Kano, which ruled that the so-called offence I am being accused of is a federal offence that can only be prosecuted by the Attorney General of the Federation and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“Rather than join issues with my traducers in Kano over the trumped-up charges levelled against me, I would implore them to redirect their energies towards easing the plights of our people in Kano” Ganduje counselled.
“They still have the opportunity to revert to my blueprint for the sustainable growth and development of Kano State. It is not yet late in the day for them to emulate my developmental strides. They can still salvage the situation as my tenure was devoid of any wrongdoing.”
