The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress and former governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, on Friday, said the Kano State Government does not have the legal rights to prosecute him for the alleged bribery of $413,000 and N1.38billion.
Ganduje mentioned this in a statement issued on Friday, maintaining that it was only the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that could charge him for the alleged offences.
The former governor therefore urged the incumbent governor, Yusuf Abba, to focus on bringing good governance to his people instead of embarking “on a futile attempt” to drag his name in the mud.
His Chief Press Secretary, Edwin Olofu, added that the bribery allegation was a “unfortunate and sorry attempt” to divert attention away from the fact that the governor had nothing on the ground in the state to justify the massive allocations he had received since President Bola Tinubu’s administration began.
Ganduje claimed that the move was the latest attempt by the state administration to smear his name, and that it also demonstrated the governor’s “crass ignorance and disrespect for the rule of law.”
He said, “In their desperate attempt to malign me and my family, they either forgot or probably cannot conduct themselves by the dictates of the law. They failed to take judicial notice of the recent pronouncement of the Federal High Court in Kano, which ruled that the so-called offence I am being accused of is a federal offence that can only be prosecuted by the Attorney General of the Federation and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“Rather than join issues with my traducers in Kano over the trumped-up charges levelled against me, I would implore them to redirect their energies towards easing the plights of our people in Kano.
“They still have the opportunity to revert to my blueprint for the sustainable growth and development of Kano State. It is not yet late in the day for them to emulate my developmen- tal strides. They can still salvage the situation as my tenure was devoid of any wrongdoing.” Continuing, the APC chairman admonished that it would have been in the best interest of the state to extend the deadline of the probe to flag off from 1999 to date.
“As the saying goes, he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. It shouldn’t be seen as targeted at my administration alone. It should not be seen to be borne out of malice, vindictiveness, and ill will. It should be for public good and interest.
“We conducted the affairs of governance in the state openly and transparently during my tenure. We don’t need to be seeking direction from our masters to do what is proper,” he stressed.
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