Ganduje and gangrene in APC

Moves to remove the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje from office heightened again recently following speculations that President Bola Tinubu may be considering an ambassadorial appointment for him to leave the country over his lingering corruption trial. Fresh fraud charges just filed against the former Governor of Kano State, his Commissioner for Local Government and two others can only spell scandal for the ruling party. A hearing with hoary details of gross abuse of office is certain to further discredit a party battling to gain acceptability after introducing the most painful ever economic policies since the return of democracy in 1999.

According to the charge sheet, Ganduje, Murtala Garo, Lamin Sani and Muhammad Takai were charged with criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, making false statements of return and criminal misappropriation. The state government accused them of mismanaging the 44 Local Government Area Councils statutory allocations remitted to the State/Local Governments Joint Account from the Federation Account.

The four were also accused of criminally diverting N57.4billion through several personal accounts of Local Government cashiers and other personal and corporate accounts. They allegedly converted the funds into dollars for their personal benefits and acquired a serviced apartment on the Murtala Muhammad Way, commercial apartments in Dubai and a multi-billion Naira Hotel in Jabi, Abuja. Others are filling stations on Gwarzo Road Kano and Eastern Bypass Kano.

Earlier on April 4, the state government filed a suit against Ganduje, his wife, Hafsat Umar and six others before the Kano High Court. The six others include Ganduje’s son, Umar Abdullahi Umar, Abubakar Bawuro, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Ltd., Safari Textiles Ltd., and Lesage General Enterprises. NAN also reports that on July 16, in the charge sheet with case No. K/143c/24, the state government accused Ganduje and erstwhile commissioner for justice, Musa Lawan, of criminal conspiracy and misappropriation.

The saga keeps getting more salacious. In the wake of the August 1-10 2024 mass protests against bad governance and hunger, the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, who undertook an on-the-spot assessment of the Kano State High Court, which was vandalised, looted and razed by rioters, alleged that “hired miscreants carted away corruption charges documents on the former Governor who has been facing multiple charges before the High Court.”

A statement by the governor’s spokesperson, Sanusi Tofa, dated 7th August also quoted Governor Kabir Yusuf saying “It is very unfortunate that enemies of Kano State hired undesirable elements to vandalise one of the historic public buildings with a mission to subvert the corruption charges against the acting National Chairman of the APC and former governor of the state, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, his family and aides.”

The management of the Kano State High Court had in a statement on August 4 lamented the invasion, vandalism and burning of the High Court, saying investigation had begun to track down the perpetrators. The spokesperson for the court, Baba Ibrahim, recalled that on August 1, demonstrators, who claimed to be #EndBadGovernment protesters, broke into the premises of the headquarters of the state High Court, vandalised offices and “stole an unspecified amount of money and guns seized from kidnappers and kept as exhibits in on-going cases.”

Back in October 2018, video clips reportedly recorded by a spy-camera were published by an online medium Daily Nigerian showing the governor receiving wads of dollar notes in what appears to be bribe payments from contractors. The governor, through his commissioner for information, however, denied the allegations and claimed the video clips were doctored to blackmail him. In November 2018, Ganduje sued the Daily Nigerian publisher Jaafar Jaafar for alleged defamation over the publications of the bribery videos. On 30 June 2021, Ganduje attempted to withdraw the lawsuit with sources saying that he intends to re-file at a later date.

However, on 6 July, counsel to the Daily Nigerian Muhammad Dan’Azumi, filed a counter-claim that Ganduje’s lawsuit was baseless and a waste of the court’s time. The next day, Justice S. B. Namalam granted Ganduje’s motion to withdraw but ordered him to pay ₦400,000 to Jaafar and the Daily Nigerian each. In August 2021, Jaafar said that Ganduje had not paid the ₦800,000 or contacted his lawyers to arrange the payments.

On 19 March 2021, Ganduje reiterated his claim that the videos were doctored. He also told the BBC Hausa that he had plans to ‘deal with’ the journalists who published the videos. On 22 March 2021, Jaafar Jaafar sent a letter to the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu stating that the interview amounted to a threat and Ganduje should be held responsible if anything happens to him. The letter also reiterated claims that Jaafar had been in intense danger since the videos were released and that he had been made de facto “persona non-grata.” The Kano State Commissioner of Information Mohammed Garba defended Ganduje, claiming that the “deal with” remarks referenced the then-on-going defamation lawsuit.

In April 2021, Jaafar fled his home in Abuja due to death threats and unidentified men following him (he had stopped permanently living in Kano in 2018). In the same month, police officers went to Daily Nigerian offices in search of Jaafar. The officers gave employees a letter summoning Jaafar to police headquarters for questioning about alleged “criminal conspiracy, defamation, injurious falsehood and inciting violence.” Jaafar remained in hiding and in May, fled with his family to the United Kingdom. He said that he would remain overseas “until this regime can guarantee my safety and protect freedom of the press.”

In June 2021, the Daily Nigerian reported that Ganduje was pressurising the Kano State House of Assembly to remove Muhuyi MagaJi Rimin Gado from his position as Chairman of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC). Rimingado, who had been under public pressure to investigate Ganduje since the 2018 bribery scandal, had requested information on construction of the Kano State Cancer Centre and the state government’s procurement of diesel.

The Cancer Centre’s construction was purportedly controlled by an associate of the Ganduje family while the government diesel procurement was under the direct control of Ganduje’s family members. When Rimingado began to look into the contracts and nature of the Cancer Centre’s construction and diesel procurement, Ganduje pushed for his removal. In early July 2021, the Kano State House of Assembly suspended Rimingado for a month over ‘the rejection of an accountant deployed to the Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission from the office of the State Accountant General.’ House spokesman, Uba Abdullahi, claimed that the office of the Accountant General sent a petition to the state House of Assembly for intervention and the House appointed an investigative committee. Ganduje later appointed Mahmoud Balarabe, Director for Public Prosecution in the Kano State Ministry of Justice, as acting Chairperson of the Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission.

On 24 July 2021, Justice Sanusi Ado-Ma’aji granted a motion filed by Rimingado to halt the House of Assembly from its investigation. Despite the ruling, on 27 July, the House of Assembly’s investigative committee presented its report with the claim that Rimingado had faked illness to avoid testimony and acted improperly in declining the office of the Accountant General’s accountant. The committee then recommended that Rimingado be relieved of his position, arrested, and prosecuted along with recommending that the accountant, Isah Yusif, begin at the PCACC and the House set up a new committee to look into the PCACC’s finances under Rimingado. Later that day, the Kano State Police Command detained Rimingado for questioning over alleged forgery and false declaration.

On another front, Ganduje is haunted for usurping his current office. Some political observers believe APC stalwarts from the North-Central are agitating for the leadership seat to return to their zone following the exit of Ganduje’s predecessor, Senator Abdullahi Adamu. It can be recalled that suspected thugs attacked and dispersed some members of the North-Central APC protesting in front of the party headquarters a few months ago. The demonstrators had stormed the party secretariat, chanting solidarity songs and displaying banners that read ‘Return APC National Chairmanship to North-Central’ and ‘Dr Ganduje, kindly resign to face your prosecution in Kano.’

Clearly, the ruling party needs an urgent change of guard to save its face and stem the tide of instability threatening its cohesion and credibility. However, going by its antecedents in appointing individuals under criminal trials into the highest public offices, this may be wishful thinking. Only time and the electorate will tell if the APC can remain in government with so much gangrene in its ranks.