• Kano assembly suspends governor’s probe
President Muhammadu Buhari has finally reacted to the bribery allegations against the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, assuring that the security agencies were vetting the videos where the governor was allegedly receiving bribes.
This is coming as the Kano State House of Assembly has stopped investigating the alleged bribery against the governor, following the order of the court.
In videos widely circulated on social media, the governor was seen allegedly receiving kickbacks from contractors.
The videos have generated reactions, especially from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and critics of the current administration.
The governor has denied any wrongdoing, accusing his opponents of blackmailing him.
During an interactive session with Nigerians in France, the issue of the videos came up.
According to Daily Nigerian, the medium which leaked the videos, a Kano student on scholarship in France, had showered encomiums on Ganduje, asking the federal government to emulate him.
But the president reportedly snapped, asking the student if he had watched the videos of Ganduje allegedly receiving bribe in dollars.
“Haven’t you watched the videos of the governor stuffing dollars under his gown?” one of the participants reportedly quoted the president as asking, while demonstrating how the governor was stuffing the bundles of dollars inside his pocket.
“We gave the videos to security agencies for vetting. And we will surely take action on the matter if he is found guilty.”
But the president’s response was said not to have gone well with a lawmaker and a presidential aide who reportedly pleaded with journalists to remove the portion from their reports.
Daily Nigerian, published by Mr. Jafaar Jaafar, had uploaded the videos which showed the governor allegedly receiving $5 million bribe, dressed in white Kaftan.
The publisher explained that the aggrieved contractors, who allegedly paid between 15 per cent and 25 per cent of the worth of contracts to the governor, accepted to do the video recording whenever they went to pay the alleged kickback to the governor.
Meanwhile, following the order of the court, the Kano State House of Assembly has stopped investigating the alleged bribery against Ganduje.
The chairman of the committee investigating the issue, Baffa Dan-Agundi, had said the court order did not stop the panel from continuing with the investigation.
But making a U-turn on Monday, Dan-Agundi told the court that the assembly is a law-abiding arm of government, hence, it would obey the court and suspend all forms of investigation on the case pending the court judgment.
While adjourning the hearing on the matter to Wednesday (today), Badamasi urged the committee to desist from inviting, questioning, interviewing, examining any person related to the issue.
He also instructed the investigative committee to stop any form of analysis on the bribery videos.
The committee had invited Ganduje, who failed to appear but sent one of his commissioners.
The committee had also invited Jafar Jafar, publisher of Daily Nigerian, the online platform which leaked the videos.
One of the contractors who levelled allegations against the governor had also agreed to testify at the assembly.
