Governor Ganduje Of Kano State Speaks On Collecting $5m Bribe From Contractors

Ganduje Denies Bribe Allegation

The Kano state government has reacted to an online news publication which accused Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of receiving $5million as bribe from contractors.

The source quoted by the report, accused the governor of personally receiving between 15 to 25 percent kickbacks for every project executed in the state.

It also claims to be in possession of video evidence which it says has been certified as authentic.

However, in a reaction to the allegations through a statement signed and made available to Naija News by Mallam Muhammad Garba, Commissioner, Information, Youth and Culture, Kano State, the Kano state government says the report is false and contains no iota of truth.

The statement further describes the allegation as an attempt to blackmail Governor Ganduje as the 2019 elections gather traction.

“The attention of Kano State Government has been drawn to malicious report by an online media platform, alleging that the Governor of Kano State His Excellency Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje OFR was involved in an inappropriate conduct after foot dragging by the online media to give clarity to the allegation with a clear view to blackmail and extort the Governor,” the statement said.

“The blackmail did not come as a surprise to the government and good people of Kano state particularly, at a time when we are approaching general elections. Evidently, Kano being the stronghold of the APC and expected to produce the highest votes in the upcoming general elections is a target of campaign of calumny.” 

“It is also not surprising that the stuff is published by one who has for long been working for the opposition and an antagonist of the APC government in Nigeria.”

“We wish to state that there is no iota of truth to these allegations and if indeed there is any such alleged video, it is at best cloned. More so, in this era of technological advancements, some evil minded people often take advantage to blackmail and extort and assassinate the character of people that do not patronize them”.

The statement also made reference to similar a similar video which went viral in May in which Police IG, Ibrahim Idris is seen struggling to read from a prepared speech.

“It will be recalled that just recently, the Inspector General of Police, the Emir of Kano, Governor of Adamawa and many others were ridiculed when their cloned videos and pictures went viral respectively.”

“It is surprising that the same editor of the online medium making the baseless allegations against the Governor was the one who came out to defend the Emir, arguing that the video was cloned. Indeed it was.” 

“To further prove that the online media is bent on discrediting, blackmailing and assassinating the character of the Governor, the online media has yet to reveal the identity of the giver of the bribe, who is also suppose to be a culprit in the eye of the law.”

“We are therefore calling on the general public to be vigilant as we heard from good authority that many of such cloned videos involving highly placed persons considered as obstacle to the opposition agenda ahead of 2019 will be released in peace meal.”

The Governor revealed the matter is not been taken lightly and every legal avenues would be explored to make sure the truth is made public.

“The government of Kano state is taking this matter seriously, and will exploit every appropriate and legal avenue to ensure that it gets to the root of the matter and the perpetrators are brought to book.” 

“We also call on the good people of Kano and particularly members of the APC to remain calm and always be law abiding.”

“His Excellency Governor Ganduje will remain focused on delivering the dividends of democracy to the good people of Kano including other national assignments. He will never succumb to blackmail or negotiate with blackmailers.”