Rivalry In Kano As State Govt Battles Ganduje

Following a recent verdict by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) sitting in Abuja suspending the chairman of the Kano Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC), Muhyi Magaji Rimingado, the state, had in a swift reaction raised charges against the immediate past governor of Kano state and national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, his wife, his son and five others, who are sued for bribery.

Rimingado was arraigned before the Tribunal in Abuja on Thursday over alleged breach of the Code of Conduct for public officers, conflict of interest, abuse of office, false asset declaration, bribery and accepting gift, among others.

The tribunal had also accepted the complainant’s application directing the defendant to step aside as the chairman of PCACC over allegation of contravening the provisions of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act CAP C15 LFN 2004 pending the hearing.

and determination of the case against Rimingado that is before the tribunal.

The tribunal further issued an order directing the Kano State governor, Abba Yusuf and the Secretary to the State Government, Baffa Bichi to take all necessary steps to appoint the most appropriate officer to take over as A ring Chairman of the PCACC pending the hearing and determination of the case before the Tribunal.

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However, government sources said the government would appeal the ruling as there is a standing court order restraining the arraignment, processes of the Code of Conduct Bureau, the EFCC and others.

The embattled Rimingado led the Kano State government to sue former Governor Ganduje, his wife Hafsat, his son Umar, Abubakar Bawuro, Umar Abdullahi Umar, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Ltd, Safari Textiles Ltd and Lesage General Enterprises, Allah of who are respondents in an eight-count charge that border around bribery and corruption.

Some of the charges include allegation of receiving $200,000 bribe, $213,000 kickback, converting N1.376 billion for personal use, acquiring land belonging to peasant farmers and selling it at N700 million among others.

Earlier in the same day, the Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf had inaugurated two Judicial Commissions of Inquiry to probe the immediate past government led by Ganduje.

It would be recalled that Rimingado had served under Governor Ganduje as the chairman of the Anti-corruption agency but things fell apart between the duo and he was suspended from his position over his alleged opposition to the posting of an accountant to the agency from the Office of the Accountant-General of the state then.

Former Gov Ganduje approved the sacking of the chairman, Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, Muhuyi Rimingado two years after the Kano State House of Assembly had recommended his immediate sack from his position as chairman of the anti-graft agency.

Rimingado was quick to return to the red cap zone of the Kwankwasiyya Movement led by Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to share the common interest of facing the Ganduje camp in the state.

On assumption of power, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)-led government reappointed Rimingado as the chairman of the Anti-corruption agency, Kano state, in what is seen to be very strategic by political analysts being that he had served under Ganduje and can serve as a tool to tame the former Governor.

Meanwhile, on its own side, the Kano State government is set to probe sales and misappropriation of government property as well as political violence during and after the elections. The probe will spread its tentacles from 2015, 2019 to 2023, the period during which Ganduje served as the state’s governor.

It would be recalled that the state government in its assumption of power in the state had engaged in demolition of property across the state suspected to have been unlawfully acquired by friends and associates of the immediate past regime.

The state government was forced to pay a whooping N3 billion to victims of demolition of shops in the state by the Federal High Court which it agreed and paid.