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N3.4bn Fraud: Emir Sanusi’s Culpable, Commission Insists (See Full Report)
Below is the full preliminary report served the Secretary to Kano State Government by the state anti-graft commission attached to buttress its investigation into the alleged misappropriation of N3.4 billion by the Kano Emirate Council between 2014 and 2017.
The commission insists in this report that the emir is the accounting officer of council, whose account was not audited within the period under investigation. The commission is also accusing the emirate council of obstruction of investigation and called for the suspension of the emir to allow free probe, among others.
RE: PRELIMINARY REPORT OF INVESTIGATION IN RESPECT OF PETITION OF FINANCIAL MISAPPROPRIATION AGAINST KANO STATE EMIRATE COUNCIL UNDER THE PRESENT EMIR
MUHAMMADU SANUSI II
In furtherance to the Commission’s earlier communication No. PCAC/GEN/6/V.I, dated 31st May, 2019, on the above subject matter and the unfolding events, the Commission deemed it necessary to make some clarifications as follows:-
It is imperative to state categorically that, the Commission’s investigation is on alleged misappropriation and questionable expenditures but not on the funds left behind by the Late Emir of Kano Alh. Ado Bayero and we still maintain our stance.
In the cause of investigation we undertook an analysis of the main Account belonging to Kano Emirate Council and domicile at First Bank with account No. 2005888452 starting from the era of the Late Emir to enable the Commission have an idea of how the money is being managed.
There were Seven Hundred and Eighty Three (783) activities bothering on withdrawals, transfers and placements from 2/1/2013 to 06/06/2014 in respect of the account which covers the time of Late Emir Ado Bayero as per the analysis conducted by this Commission.
As from 2nd January 2013 to 13th April, 2017 the opening balance is Four Hundred and Thirty Two Million Three Hundred and Thirty Eight Thousand Four Hundred and Twelve Naira Ninety Eight Kobo (N432,338,412.98). Total credit made in the account during this period was Six Billion Seven Hundred and Eighty Four Million, One Hundred and Fourty Six Thousand Three Hundred and Thirty Five Naira Seventy Three Kobo (N6,784,146,335.73)
while the total debit during the period under review is Seven Billion Two Hundred and Nine Million Thirty Five Thousand One Hundred and Sixty Three Naira Nine Kobo (N7,209,035,163.09). The closing balance as at April, 2017 is Seven Million Four Hundred and Fourty Nine Thousand Five Hundred and Eighty Five Naira Sixty Two Kobo (7,449,585.62).
On 13/2/2014 and 26/2/2014 payments were made to Philko Ltd, the company said to have undertook the construction of Ado Bayero Royal City via Inter Bank transfers of the sum of Seven Hundred and Seven Six Million One Hundred and Fifty Nine Thousand Five Hundred and Nineteen Naira Fifty Kobo (N776,159,519.50), there were transfers of N388,079,759.75,
N338,079,759.75 and N50,000,000.00 made on 13th February, 2014 and 26th February, 2014 respectively; making the total quoted figures for Philko Ltd.
During this period fixed deposit placements were made to the tune of Five Hundred and Eighty One Million Eight Hundred and Eighty Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Twenty Nine Naira Fifty Four Kobo (N581,884,729.54) (placement and rollovers) while net withdrawals on some engagements both cash and withdrawal stood at One Billion Fifty Six Million Five Hundred and Thirty Three Thousand Seven Hundred and Twenty Eight Naira Thirty One Kobo (N1,056,533,728.31).
In summary, the total withdrawal made from the Account under the Late Emir was Two Billion Four Hundred and Fourteen Million Five Hundred and Seventy Seven Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy Seven Naira Thirty Five Kobo (N2,414,577,977.35), subtracting this amount from total debit on the account which is Seven Billion Two Hundred and Nine Million Thirty Five Thousand One Hundred and Sixty Three Naira Nine Kobo (N7,209,035,163.09), it is evidently clear that the current Emir is responsible for the expenditures to the total sum of Four Billion Seven Hundred and Ninety Four Million Four Hundred and Fifty Seven Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Five Naira Seventy Four Kobo (N4,794,457,185.74) from the Emirate Council Account domicile in First Bank Plc.
Similarly, all the expenditures made by the Emirate Council are either based on the approval or on instruction of His Highness as per attached copy of the payment voucher which reads “Being payment to the above named in respect of making special prayers for peace as directed by H.H. Emir of Kano respectively“. Therefore any claim that the Emir is not accounting officer of the Kano Emirate Council is a deception and a misrepresentation of facts.
Specifically, the reason of our recommendation for the suspension apart from
obstruction of investigation which formed the basis, investigation further reveals that Rufa’I Buhari (Senior Accountant) usually made cash withdrawals directly from the account and change it to Dollars on behalf of the Emir. Sometimes a direct transfers from the account are made to a Bureau De Change belonging to one Jazuli Sani who was said to have died.
This additional explanation formed part of our preliminary report because there is a serious need to dig deeper into the personal expenditures charged directly from the council’s account as in the attached Payment Vouchers where Mujitaba Abba (a brother to His Highness) claimed an OPE to the tune of One Million One Hundred and Eighty Thousand Five Hundred and Fifty Naira (N1,180,550.00) incurred during the activities of the settlement of the Emir’s Children’s School Fees.
In a desperate move to stop this investigation, the Emir filed two (2) separate but similar cases in courts against the Commission. The only difference is the cause of action. He filed an action for Fundamental Enforcement before the Federal High Court with case number FHC/KN/CS/102/2019 HH Sanusi II V. Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption
Commission & 2 Others while the one at the State High Court with case number K/M515/2019 with the same parties seeking for an order of Certiorari to quash the preliminary report but not challenging the merit of our findings.
The law establishing the funds also enjoined the Emirate Council to audit it
finances annually but based on the answer to our request by the Auditor
General of the Local Government (copy attached) the Council under the
current Emir has not audit its finances from 2014 – 2016.
The Commission still maintain the allegation on unappropriated, seemingly personal expenditures, making the total sum of questionable expenditures uncovered by this investigation to the tune of Three Billion Four Hundred and Thirty Two Million Ninety Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Seven Naira Ninety Four Kobo (N3,432,090,797.94) only.
The sum of One Billion Three Hundred and Sixty Two Million Three Hundred and Sixty Six Thousand Three Hundred and Eighty Seven Naira Eighty One Kobo (N1,362,366,387.81) expended is considered by the Commission as the necessities to run the Emirate Council even though were not budget for.
Generally, it is important for the government to consider the recommendation of the Commission in the interest of public policy and the anti-corruption drive.
President Bola Tinubu has nominated Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, the immediate past sole administrator of Rivers State and a former Chief of Naval Staff, as a non-career ambassador.
Tinubu also nominated Ita Enang, a former senator; Chioma Ohakim, former First Lady of Imo State; and Abdulrahman Dambazau, former Minister of Interior and ex-Chief of Army Staff, as non-career ambassadors.
The United States Department of State on Wednesday announced that it is outlining new measures to address violence against Christians in Nigeria and other countries.
The policy, according to a statement released by the department, targets radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani ethnic militias, and other actors responsible for killings and attacks on religious communities.
“The United States is taking decisive action in response to the mass killings and attacks on Christians carried out by radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani militias, and other violent groups in Nigeria and beyond,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement.
According to the statement, a new policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act allows the State Department to restrict visas for individuals who have “directed, authorised, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom,” and, when appropriate, extend those “restrictions to their immediate family members.”
The briefing, led by House Appropriations Vice Chair and National Security Subcommittee Chairman Mario Díaz-Balart, included members of the House Appropriations and House Foreign Affairs Committees, as well as religious freedom experts.
Participants included Representatives Robert Aderholt, Riley Moore, Brian Mast, Chris Smith, US Commission on International Religious Freedom Chair Vicky Hartzler, Alliance Defending Freedom International’s Sean Nelson, and Dr Ebenezer Obadare of the Council on Foreign Relations.
President Bola Tinubu recently approved Nigeria’s delegation to the new US–Nigeria Joint Working Group, formed to implement security agreements from high-level talks in Washington led by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
The move follows growing concerns over terrorism, banditry, and targeted attacks on Christians in Nigeria, prompting increased US scrutiny and warnings about the protection of vulnerable faith communities.
On November 20, the US House Subcommittee on Africa opened a public hearing to review Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, placing the country under heightened scrutiny for alleged religious-freedom violations.
Lawmakers examined the potential consequences of the designation, which could pave the way for sanctions against Nigerian officials found complicit in religious persecution.
The Punch
United States of America lawmakers have sharply contradicted the Nigerian government’s position on the ongoing massacres in the country, describing the violence as “escalating,” “targeted,” and overwhelmingly directed at Christians during a rare joint congressional briefing on Tuesday.
The closed-door session – convened by House Appropriations, Vice Chair Mario Díaz-Balart, as part of a Trump-ordered investigation – examined recent killings and what Congress calls Abuja’s “deeply inadequate” response.
President Trump has asked lawmakers, led by Reps. Riley Moore and Tom Cole, to compile a report on persecution of Nigerian Christians and has even floated the possibility of U.S. military action against Islamist groups responsible for the attacks.
At the briefing, Vicky Hartzler, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, warned that “religious freedom [is] under siege” in Nigeria, citing mass abductions of schoolchildren and assaults in which “radical Muslims kill entire Christian villages [and] burn churches.” She said abuses were “rampant” and “violent,” claiming Christians are targeted “at a 2.2 to 1 rate” compared with Muslims.
While acknowledging Nigeria’s recent move to reassign 100,000 police officers from VIP protection, Hartzler said the country is entering a “coordinated and deeply troubling period of escalated violence.” She urged targeted sanctions, visa bans, asset freezes and tighter conditions on U.S. aid, insisting Abuja must retake villages seized from Christian communities so displaced widows and children can return home.
The strongest rebuke came from Dr. Ebenezer Obadare of the Council on Foreign Relations, who dismissed Abuja’s narrative that the killings are not religiously motivated. He called the idea that extremists attack Muslims and Christians equally a “myth,” stressing the groups operate “for one reason and one reason only: religion.” Higher Muslim casualty figures, he argued, reflect geography, not equal targeting.
Obadare described Boko Haram as fundamentally anti-democratic and accused the Nigerian military of being “too corrupt and incompetent” to defeat jihadist networks without external pressure. He urged Washington to push Nigeria to disband armed religious militias, confront security-sector corruption and respond swiftly to early warnings.
Sean Nelson of ADF International called Nigeria “the deadliest country in the world for Christians,” claiming more Christians are killed there than in all other countries combined and at a rate “five times” higher than Muslims when adjusted for population. He said extremists also kill Muslims who reject violent ideologies, undermining Abuja’s argument that the crisis is driven mainly by crime or communal disputes.
He pressed for tighter oversight on U.S. aid, recommending that some assistance be routed through faith-based groups to avoid corruption. Without “transparency and outside pressure,” he said, “nothing changes.”
Díaz-Balart criticised the Biden administration’s reversal of Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” in 2021, saying the decision had “clearly deadly consequences.” Lawmakers from the Appropriations, Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees signaled further oversight actions as they prepare the Trump-directed report.
Hartzler pointed to recent comments by Nigeria’s Speaker of the House acknowledging a “coordinated and deeply troubling period of escalated violence,” calling it a rare moment of candor. She also welcomed the redeployment of police officers as “a promising start after years of neglect.”
But she stressed that these gestures are far from sufficient, insisting the Nigerian government must demonstrate a real commitment to “quell injustice,” act swiftly on early warnings, and embrace transparency.
The Nigerian Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to source.
