Headlines
Why We Refused to Probe Ganduje’s Dollar Scandal – Kano Commission
The head of the Kano State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission, Magaji Ramindado, has said the commission could not probe Governor Abdullahi Ganduje’s alleged bribery scandal because the agency was “not carried along” in the investigation by the newspaper that reported the case.
Mr Ramindado said the governor’s immunity had also barred the commission from taking action.
A video published by the newspaper Daily Nigerian in October 2018 showed Mr Ganduje receiving wads of dollars. The newspaper said the governor collected $5,000 as kickback from a government contractor.
Mr Ganduje said the clip was doctored, but video specialists at PREMIUM TIMES confirmed the material was not fake.
Nigerians have since called for the governor to be investigated. He won a second term despite the scandal.
As governor, Mr Ganduje has constitutionally-provided immunity against prosecution. But he can be investigated pending when he leaves office.
No federal anti-corruption agency, including the EFCC, has said it has investigated the matter.
The Kano anti-corruption agency, the state’s equivalent of the EFCC, has also not probed the case.
Speaking on Tuesday at the opening of a two-day meeting on anti-corruption fight in Kano, the chairman of the body, Mr Ramindado, said the commission also failed to act because it did not know the motive of the journalist who released the video.
The meeting, with the theme: ”Enhancing Citizens’ Effective Participation in the Fight Against Corruption,” was organised by Actionaid Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation and member of ActionAid global federation.
The anti-graft agency boss was reacting to allegation that its probe of the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was politically motivated.
He said although the agency was established by the state government, it was independent.
“On the issue of dollar bribery scandal and the accusation that we have not probed the governor, people have forgotten that governors enjoy immunity,” he said.
“And apart from this, how could you undertake sting operation without involving us, yet you want us to be part of the probe? We can’t, because we don’t know your motive, we don’t know whether it is true or not. For you to have gone to the extent of releasing the video, you could have got anti-graft agencies involved. It doesn’t mean it should necessarily be our own agency. But EFCC and ICPC are there and they could back the claim,” he said.
The chairman said his agency has investigated a serving commissioner and another permanent secretary, adding that one of the cases is currently pending at the court of appeal.
“We have investigated judiciary institutions, we have investigated the traditional institutions. I enter government house and I make arrest. We don’t care whether people will say we are part of the government or not. I have investigated a serving commissioner and even a serving permanent secretary. Google the case of the Commissioner for Lands, Kano State, we are currently in the Appeal Court over the matter,” he added.
Premium Times
Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the political adviser to President Bola Tinubu, has resigned his appointment.
Reports say the former spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) tendered his resignation about two weeks ago.
Further reports quoting presidency sources did not, however, provide details of the reasons for his decision, but only stated that it was on personal grounds.
Baba-Ahmed was appointed in September 2023 as Special Adviser on Political Matters in the Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Over the past 17 months, he had represented the presidency at several public fora, including a recent national conference themed: “Strengthening Nigeria’s Democracy: Pathway to Good Governance and Political Integrity”, which held from January 28 and 29, 2025 in Abuja.
The Supreme Court has set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja recognising Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP).
In a unanimous judgment, a five-member panel of the apex court held that the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to have pronounced Abure National Chairman of the Labour Party, after finding out earlier that the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.
The apex court held that the issue of leadership was an internal affair of a party, over which courts lacks jurisdiction.
The court further allowed the appeal filed by Senator Nenadi Usman and one other, and held that it is meritorious.
It also proceeded to dismiss the cross-appeal filed by the Abure group of the Labour Party for being unmeritorious.
In January, the Court of Appeal in Abuja reiterated that Abure remained the chairman of the LP.
A three-member panel of the appellate court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, held that its judgment of November 13, 2024, which recognises Abure as national chairman, subsists and has not been set aside by any court.
Justice Barka made the declaration while delivering judgment in two separate appeals filed by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman and the caretaker committee and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The appellate court in the two separate appeals held that it did not delve into the issue of the leadership of the Labour Party because such issues are not justiciable.
It said that anything done outside jurisdiction amounts to a nullity. Hence, the judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on October 8, 2024, by Justice Emeka Nwite is of no effect because it was delivered without jurisdiction.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied being partisan in handling the failed recall of the lawmaker representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to Chairman of INEC Mahmood Yakubu, who was on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, explained how the Commission handled the process.
“In the case of the Kogi Central District, we received a petition and a cover letter and of course what Nigerians were saying was that we were taking sides,” Oyekanmi said on the programme.
“But what happened was that in the covering letter, the representatives of the petitioners did not include their address as required in our regulations and guidelines and what we just did was to ask them to supply their address, it has nothing to do with the petition.
“And of course, there is nowhere in the law where INEC is asked to reject a petition just because the cover letter did not contain the address. So, there was no hanky-panky in what we did.”
Earlier on Thursday, INEC rejected the petition to recall Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, saying that it has not met the requirements.
The electoral commission said the petition to recall Senator Natasha did not meet constitutional requirements.
Senator Natasha was suspended for breaching Senate rules, prompting some of her constituents to initiate her recall. They claimed the move was to ensure their constituency did not lack representation following the suspension of the 45-year-old senator.
Asked whether there could be a repeat of the recall process, the INEC spokesperson said the law did not specify if the process could be repeated and how many times.
“The law just talks about the threshold, the threshold meaning that if you want to recall, you must have, in addition to your petition, 50 per cent plus one signatures. The law did not specify how many times you can undertake that,” he said.
The lawmaker has made headlines in recent months after she accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment, a claim the Akwa Ibom lawmaker has equally denied.
She was, thereafter, suspended by the Red Chamber for violation of its rule of conduct.
