Bribery Videos: Ganduje Sends Representative to Assembly, Denies Collecting Bribe from Contractor

By Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, on Friday, denied before the House of Assembly that he collected bribe from any contractor.

An online newspaper, Daily Nigerian, had published an investigative report supported with two videos showing Mr. Ganduje allegedly receiving bribe in dollars.

The state House of Assembly, under the leadership of Alhaji Kabiru Alhassan Rurum, later constituted a committee to establish the authenticity of the videos.

Consequently, the Assembly summoned the publisher/editor-in-chief of the online newspaper, Jaafar Jaafar, to testify before the committee.

While appearing before the committee, Jafaar insisted that the videos were genuine, and expressed readiness to swear with the Quran to convince doubting Thomases.

Following Jafaar’s appearance, the committee summoned the governor to appear before it on Friday.

Though the three paragraph-letter sent to the governor titled “invitation to respond to an allegation of bribery against H.E Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje,” requested the governor to appear on Friday, it also gave options that he could be represented.

The governor however opted to be represented by a cabinet member, Commissioner for Information, Mr. Muhammad Garba.

Testifying before the Assembly, Ganduje said the allegation against him were injurious.

He said the video clips released by the publisher of Daily Nigerian were aimed at tarnishing his image politically.

The governor, in the document presented before the committee, denied collecting bribe from the contractor as shown in the video.

Ganduje stated that he had never been involved in such a bribery incident and would never be.

The governor in the document called on the public to ignore the allegations as it never happened. He also warned publishers to avoid publications that could tarnish the image of leaders.

“Such untrue publications was done to the Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammad Sanusi II, and also to the former Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau”, Ganduje said in the document.

Also commenting on the issue, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Barrister Ibrahim Mukhtar, commended the way and manner the committee was handling the issue by giving fair hearing to both parties.

The Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Baffa Danagundi, commended the represantative of the governor for honouring the committee’s request.

Danagundi said the committee will thoroughly watch the video on Tuesday in the presence of the representatives of both parties but not publicly.

Meanwhile, security was beefed up at the state House of Assembly to ensure peaceful conduct of the committee’s sitting.