The Kano High Court will on April 17, 2024, arraign the All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, on charges bothering on allegations of bribery, diversion, and misappropriation of funds, including the purported acceptance of $413,000 and N1.38bn in bribes.
Ganduje alongside his wife, Hafsat Ganduje, their son, Umar Abdullahi Umar and five others are to be arraigned on eight-count charges bordering on dollar bribery allegation, misappropriation and diversion of public funds running into billions.
This was confirmed by Kano State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Haruna Dederi confirmed the development on Tuesday.
The Kano State Government, which initiated the criminal suit against the eight respondents, has declared its readiness to present 15 witnesses to testify before Justice Usman Na’aba of State High Court number four.
“It is very true. We have filed the case and it’s going to hold on the 17th of April, 2024. What I cannot confirm is whether he is served or not, but he will definitely be served,” he said.
Dederi further highlighted the significance of accountability in governance, remarking, “What he (Ganduje) doesn’t understand is that you cannot run away from the evil day, it will definitely come to you, and this will even serve as a deterrence to all of us that are also in government now.”
The commissioner also addressed the jurisdictional aspect of the case, asserting,
“He was saying that we can’t prosecute him, forgetting that the offence also falls under the category of the state offences,” he said.
“It’s not totally a federal affair and we have even appealed to Justice Liman ruling on that.”
Earlier, Ganduje had 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.
In 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.”
