Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, fmr. Kano State gov.
Abdullahi Ganduje, former Governor of Kano State, is to face a fresh charge filed against him by the Kano State Government.
Ganduje was charged on four counts alongside Musa Lawan, former Attorney-General of the State.
The offences border on criminal conspiracy, abuse of office and misappropriation, contrary to Section 308 and punishable under Section 309 of the Penal Code (as amended) CAP 105, Vol. 2, the Laws of Kano State of Nigeria.
The duo was alleged to have misappropriated, diverted and converted the sum of N240 million belonging to the State.
In the charge sheet, the State Government said it intended to present four witnesses.
No date has been fixed for the arraignment.
The Kano State Government, in April, filed an eight-count charge bordering on bribery, misappropriation, and diversion of public funds against Ganduje; Hafsat, his wife; Umar Abdullahi Umar, his son; and five others.
Other defendants in the case are Abubakar Bawuro, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Limited, Safari Textiles Limited, and Lasage General Enterprises Limited.
The defendants were on July 11, arraigned in absentia and the court entered a plea of not guilty on their behalf.
In 2018, the Daily Nigerian, an online new medium, published a video of Ganduje allegedly receiving bundles of Dollars from contractors, which he stuffed into his ‘babanriga’, a traditional outfit.
The APC national chairman was the Governor of Kano State from 2015 to 2023.
The new outfit said Ganduje requested $5 million as kick-back from the contractors who recorded the video.
The Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC), in 2023, invited Ganduje for questioning over the video.
The former Governor did not honour the invitation and instead instituted a suit against the Agency.
In March, a federal high court in Kano stopped the Agency from inviting or questioning Ganduje over the bribery allegation.
The court ruled that the Agency lacks the power to invite or investigate Ganduje.
Abdullahi Liman, the presiding judge, held that the alleged infraction was a federal offence that could not be prosecuted by the State anti-graft agency.
