Ganduje: We employed ‘junior Magu’ to fight corruption in Kano

Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano, said the state government took a cue from the anti-corruption campaign of President Muhammadu Buhari and employed a “junior Magu” to help fight corruption in the state.

In June 2105, Ganduje appointed Muhuyi Rimingado as executive chairman of the state’s anti-corruption and public complaints commission.

Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust, Ganduje said Kano has been rated the best anti-corruption outfit.

Describing Rimingado as “fearless”, the governor said his anti-graft activities cost him some of his top officials.

“We have taken the issue of corruption seriously and established an anti-corruption commission,” Ganduje said.

“We employed someone we call a ‘Junior Magu’, who is fearless. He is an activist who does not fear anybody and because of his activities, I lost a commissioner, some permanent secretaries had to leave, and even my Accountant-General had to leave and is facing some charges.

“I gave that commission a free hand. We are constructing anti-corruption offices in all the 44 local government areas and we have sent five of our officers to the EFCC for training. We are sending some others to ICPC for training.

“So, I am happy to say that Kano has been rated as having the best anti-corruption outfit.”

Commenting on underage voting that allegedly took place in the state’s council polls, Ganduje said the pictures and video clips are “hypothetical”.

According to him, the electoral process in the clips was “arranged in an artificial election arena”.

“How can you see a queue of all children with no single adult? That was arranged in an artificial election arena. We did not use any card reader for the election and the child was holding a card reader. So, you can see that it was a photo trick.

“We used our ICT experts to prove that the first time that clip was posted on the internet was in 2015; you can always verify that.”

He described the election as the most successful council poll in the state’s history, after which he said anyone not content with the process should seek redress in court.

“So, I want to assure you that there was no underage voting in Kano. It was a kind of blackmail and anybody who is in doubt about the credibility of the election should go to court,” he said.