Controversy trails choice of Ganduje as APC chair
….Stakeholders grumble over distortion of the zoning formula
….Kano anti-graft agency hires Falana to prosecute him
Reports that President Bola Tinubu and Governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC may have settled for the immediate-past Governor of Kano state, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje as successor to the erstwhile National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu have caused ripples within the party.
While the National Vice Chairman, Northwest, of the party, Salihu Moh. Lukman was the first to kick against the proposition, describing it as the “height of insensitivity” and “politically suicidal”, some other officials of the party regretted that the president might be toeing the same path as his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari who had imposed Adamu on the party in the eleventh hour.
Also, a former Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Reuben Abati said the corruption allegations against Dr Ganduje could haunt him in office.
“The position of a party chairman comes with a lot of responsibilities. It is not a place where he can go and be stuffing his babanriga with dollars as he was accused to have done and that matter has run into troubled waters in Kano state. If he emerges as chairman of the party as speculated, maybe he should not wear babanriga (flowing dress) because once people see him with babanriga in an important position, they will be looking around for nylon bags of dollars”, Abati had stated.
Chairman of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, Muhuyi Rimingado had a few days ago declared that a forensic analysis has shown that the content of the 2017 viral video which captured Dr Ganduje, allegedly receiving bundles of dollar notes as a bribe from a contractor and stuffing them in his flowing dress was not doctored but real video.
APC Governors who met on Wednesday night at the Imo state Governor’s Lodge in Abuja between 9 pm and 11:15 pm were said to have agreed on the choice of Ganduje.
However, about 30 minutes after the governors had left, Dr Ganduje had arrived at the Imo Governor’s Lodge for another private meeting, accompanied by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, himself a native of Kano.
Speaking on the issue, one of the state chairmen of the party from the North Central, said they were not consulted before Ganduje’s name was put forward.
“This has been the tradition. Decisions come from top to bottom. Many of us were not consulted. We hoped that having been schemed out of the National Assembly leadership, we would retain the office of the National Chairman in the North Central zone. With this distortion, nobody should blame the South East stakeholders for demanding the office of the National Secretary”, he stated.
Kano Govt reacts
However, while the Kano state Government has conceded that the choice of Ganduje for the APC leadership was an internal affair of the ruling party, it said the development does not confer any immunity on the former Governor. According to the Commissioner for Information, Baba Dantiye, “the issue of former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje becoming the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress APC is their party affair. It is not the affair of the New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP that is the ruling party in Kano. Former Governor Ganduje does not enjoy any immunity as the Chairman to the APC”.
Dr Ganduje is facing several corruption allegations for which the Kano state anti-graft agency as well as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have attempted to investigate.
These include the viral dollar video, the alleged N10 billion loan for a CCTV project which Ganduje recently said he never took possession of; as well as the report of N100 billion missing from the local government accounts. Both the EFCC and the Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission (PICACC) of Kano state have planned to investigate the allegations
Kano anti-graft agency hires Falana
Meanwhile, the Kano State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission, PCACC has hired the services of Mr. Femi Falana, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, to lead the commission’s counsel in the alleged dollar bribery allegation against the former governor. The Commission’s counsel, Usman Fari disclosed this while speaking with newsmen shortly after Friday’s court sitting presided over by Justice A. M. Liman. Fari who said that the commission was ready for the court case noted that at the next adjourned date, Mr Falana will lead the team of the commission’s lawyers.
According to him, “The commission has engaged the learned senior counsel, Femi Falana, SAN to lead us in the matter. So by the next adjourned date, 25th July 2023, the Senior Advocate will lead the lawyers on behalf of the 6th respondent. We are ever ready for the matter,” Fari maintained.
Earlier, when the matter was called, the counsel to the former governor, Mr B Hemba informed the court that he needed to respond to court processes served on them by the respondent hence the inability of the court to proceed with the hearing. The presiding Judge, Justice A. M. Liman however adjourned the matter till 25th July 2023 for a hearing.
Recall that Ganduje had earlier approached the court with an expert application through his counsel, Bar. B. Hemba where he secured an order restraining the commission and other agents from investigating, inviting, and arresting over the alleged dollar video.
Joined in the suit were eight respondents which include, Nigeria Police, the Inspector-General of Police, the Commissioner of Police Kano State, State Security Services and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. Others are the Attorney General of the Federation, the Attorney General of Kano State and the Kano State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission.
A Federal High Court in Kano had restrained the PCACC from inviting or harassing Ganduje over the alleged dollar bribery videos. Earlier the anti-graft agency had invited the former governor to appear before it within a specified period of seven days to answer questions relating to the Dollar video where he was allegedly collecting kickbacks from contractors.
But ruling in an ex-parte motion filed before him, Justice A.M. Liman of the Federal High Court, restrained the commission from “harassing, intimidating, inviting, threatening to arrest, arresting, detaining the applicant or his children or any member of his family or any appointee who served in his administration or forcefully taking over the applicant’s property or his children’s or any member of his family”.
