‘There’s no free dollar in Edo’ — PDP taunts Ganduje

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taunted Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano state, over the jibe he threw at Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state.

Ganduje, head of APC national campaign council for the Edo gubernatorial election, had accused the PDP of plotting to rig  the Edo election, saying Wike who is the head of the PDP campaign on Edo election, would be sent to an isolation centre.

But in a statement on Monday, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP national publicity secretary, said it is ironical that Ganduje, “who has become a butt of national shame after being seen on viral video stuffing his robe with gratification in foreign currency”, is accusing the PDP of corrupt intention.

He described the Kano governor as “a barefaced treasury looter, who has no moral rectitude to speak on corruption”.

Ologbondiyan said the treasury of the state is meant to serve the people, adding that there will be “no free dollar for him (Ganduje) and other APC leaders to loot in Edo state”.

“It is a paradox that an individual who has earned himself the disgraceful public sobriquet of “gandollar”, after being caught collecting gratification, would attempt to accuse others of having intention of looting the treasury of a state,” the statement read.

“The PDP points out that it is only in a party like the APC, under a Buhari Presidency, that such a tarnished individual can be selected to speak in public, let alone lead a governorship election campaign.

“Apparently, Governor Ganduje and other APC leaders are so used to looting public treasuries that such is his first mental direction after his inauguration to lead the Edo governorship campaign.

“Governor Ganduje has further confirmed the real intention of the APC, which is to use their morally embattled candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu (of course, birds of the same feathers flock together) for their desperate effort to regain access to Edo state treasury, after Governor Godwin Obaseki liberated the state from the stranglehold of APC treasury-looting godfathers.”

The PDP spokesman said Ganduje should not be compared to Wike.

In 2018, Daily Nigerian, an online platform, had released videos of Ganduje allegedly collecting kickback from contractors but the governor denied doing so, saying the videos, which went viral, were doctored.