By – Abba Hamisu Sani
Africa-Press – Nigeria. After ten months in office as the governor of Kano State Abba Kabir Yusuf has on 4th of April 2024 inaugurated a Commission of enquiry to prove his predecessor Dr .Abdullahi Umar Ganduje ,the current national Chairman of the ruling APC .
Abba who won the 2023 gubernatorial election under the opposition NNPP led by the former Kano State governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso pledged to prove Ganduje’s administration as part of his campaign agenda.
The NNPP government under Abba Yusuf narrowly escaped legal battle after failing to win in both governorship election tribunal in Kano and the Court of Appeal judgment in Kaduna but it finally scaled through at the Supreme Court .
The recent development in Kano State is seen by many political spectators as a political move to take revenge while others are seeing it as fulfilling campaign promises.
The Commission of enquiry set to prove Ganduje
The inquiry commission established by Abba Yusuf under Justice Faruk Lawan is to investigate the cases of misappropriation of public properties between 2015 to 2023.
It could be recalled that the first project embarked by the NNPP government when assumed leadership in Kano was the demolition of the properties allegedly allocated to individuals and companies without following due process by the immediate past administration under Ganduje .
Places like Schools, worshiping centers like Mosques and a famous Daula hotel which were allocated for commercial purposes were all destroyed by the incumbent government under Abba Yusuf .This single act which many describes as in appropriate at that time caused heavy lost to the business communities in Kano who fall to be the victims of political misunderstanding between the two rivals that control Kano politics ;Rabi’u Kwankwaso and his former ally Abdullahi Umar Ganduje .
While inaugurating the commission governor Yusuf charged Justice Lawan and his entire members not to relent at identifying cases of misappropriation of public properties and assets especially by the last administration within and outside the state .
He also emphasized that this move is neither political nor targeted at any individual but it’s a move with the mandate of the people of Kano State .
Governor Yusuf charged the Commission not to compromise its stand but remain faithful to their oath and the people of Kano State at large and ensure justice for the state .
Reactions from different angles
The leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano state has reacted to the move of proving the immediate past administration of former Abdullahi Umar Ganduje ,saying justice would not be served without extending the probe to Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s administration during which period over 70 percent of property belonging to Kano State government were allegedly sold to families ,friends and cronies of Kwankwaso.
The party in a statement signed by the state chairman Prince Abdullahi Abbas , accused Governor Yusuf of witch -hunting Ganduje ,describing the setting up of the two commissions of inquiry to probe Ganduje’s administration as mere political vendetta.
The inquiry needs to start from 1999-2003 and 2011-2015
Abdullahi Abbas said the judicial commission of inquiry set up by the state government to investigate the immediate past administration in the state ought to have started from 1999-2003 and 2011-2015 when 70 percent of government properties were sold or fraudulently allocated to friends and families.
He added that sharing state assets happened right under the nose of Abba Kabir Yusuf when he was the commissioner for works ,Housing and Transportation.
The APC further observed that ,the composition of the Commission’s membership reveals that it is made up of members of the NNPP and other partisan politicians .
This singular act clearly shows that the commission has been assigned with a duty to witch -hunt and politically victimize the subjects of investigation in the unwarranted assignment “the statement added.
The Kano state APC chairman Stressed that the government should be upright in its dealings by not selfishly restricting its investigation to between 2015 and 2023.
“From 2011 -2015 ,the controversial five -kilometer road projects in the 44 local governments were awarded and only for the funds to be misappropriated without the project being executed .
During the same period under review ,over 3 billions naira was earmarked for a particular project,but misappropriated by Kwankwaso during his Presidential campaign in Lagos when 70 million naira was released by each local government” he explained
Nuhu Idris is the secretary of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) Kano State chapter. He described the commissions of inquiry set up by Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf as a waste of time and resources.
He said if the state government wanted to find out how Kano State government properties were shared and allocated to individuals and cronies of the past governors, the investigation should be extended to the administrations of Senator Ibrahim Shekarau and Rabiu Kwankwaso from 2003 to 2015.
The IPAC secretary urged the state government to concentrate on solving different challenges facing the state instead of channeling energy to where at the end of the day it will not bring any concrete result.
Nuhu Idris says that what Kano needs most presently is creating more job opportunities and more development projects that will change the face of the state economically, educationally, and socially.
The politician urged Governor Abba Kabir to avoid destructive actions that will block him from taking the Kano State to its rightful level of development, as the economy of states like Lagos and Edo is advancing rapidly
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