Sources: EFCC probing Kwankwaso over misappropriated pensioners’ funds

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating Rabiu Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano state, over alleged N2.5 billion pension fraud.

A source in the EFCC told TheCable that the sum was diverted from the coffers of the Kano government when Kwankwaso was governor of the state.

The source also alleged that houses that should have been handed to pensioners at the time were “given to other persons”.

Kwankwaso was governor of Kano from 1999 to 2003 and from 2011 to 2015.

“There was a time when a group of pensioners in Kano paid to have their own houses. The money was N2.5 billion, and they diverted the money during the Kwankwaso administration and didn’t give them houses,” the source said.

“The houses were given to other people. So we recovered the houses and returned them to the pensioners.

“But we are currently investigating because it is still a criminal offence. We invited him for questioning but he was not detained. It wasn’t recent and it came before the election.”

News of the investigation comes months after Boniface Aniebonam, founder of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), said Kwankwaso is destroying the party and making attempts to hijack the party’s structure.

In 2023, NNPP’s board of trustees (BoT) suspended Kwankwaso for alleged anti-party activities.

However, another faction of the party loyal to the former governor reversed the suspension.

Kwankwaso was subsequently expelled from the party after he failed to appear before a disciplinary committee.

Kwankwaso was presidential candidate of the NNPP in the 2023 election.