
Investigate Ganduje Now! – EiE petitions Police and EFCC
- May 14, 2019
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- Demola
- Posted in News
‘‘There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men.”
-Ludwig von Mises (Austrian economist)
On Sunday October 14, 2018, video clips were released by Daily Nigeria (an online news platform) indicting the Executive Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, of receiving $5 million kickback from a government contractor. The allegation against the governor has since generated public outcry and controversy.
In light of the aforementioned, the Kano State House of Assembly set up an investigative committee headed by Mr Baffa Babba Dan’agundi to probe the alleged bribery of Mr Ganduje. A group, Lawyers for Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria, led by Muhammed Zubair, filed a lawsuit at the Kano State High Court compelling Kano State House of Assembly to halt the probe against Mr Ganduje. The court ruled that it is not in the constitutional purview of the Kano State House of Assembly to investigate a bribery allegation against Mr Ganduje, saying it is the function of agencies under the executive arm of government such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practice Commission (ICPC) and the Nigeria Police Force.
As an institution that is interested in the nation building by promoting good governance, transparency and accountability, we wrote to the ICPC, EFCC, and the Nigeria Police on December 17, 2018 to investigate the bribery allegation against Mr Ganduje as the court of law suggested. We followed up with a reminder letter on April 2, 2019. Sadly, the executive arm of government saddled with the responsibility of investigating criminal offenses has taken no action!
EiE Nigeria has filed a lawsuit at the Federal High Court Abuja compelling the EFCC, ICPC and Nigeria Police to probe and investigate Mr Ganduje on all allegations. The matter first came up for hearing on May 10th and has been adjourned to May 24th. We are committed to demanding that all who choose to serve and are elected into public office must be held accountable for their actions.
According to the Section 15(5) of the 1999 Constitution “The State shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power.’’
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!