Kano APC voids Ganduje’s suspension, suspends ward exco

The Kano state working committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has voided the suspension of the national chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje, by his ward.

The APC executives in Dawakin ward under Tofa LGA of Kano had on Monday suspended Ganduje over the allegations of corruption leveled against him.

The legal adviser of the ward, Halliru Gwanzo, said the suspension would subsist until the former governor is cleared of the allegations.

However, Abdullahi Abbas, chairman of the APC in Kano, alleged that the ward executives who suspended Ganduje were working with the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

Abbas said the ward executives have now been suspended for six months.

“We have evidence of meetings between the state government officials and those that suspended the national chairman, and the state working committee has agreed to sanction them for six months and they stand suspended,” the chairman told journalists.

Last week, the Kano high court ruled that Ganduje should appear before it on April 17 on charges bordering on bribery, diversion, and misappropriation of public funds.

The former governor of Kano is to be arraigned alongside his wife and son.

In 2018, Daily Nigerian, an online newspaper, published a video of Ganduje allegedly receiving bundles of dollars from contractors, which he stuffed into his “babanriga”, a traditional outfit.

The newspaper said Ganduje requested $5 million as bribe from the contractors who recorded the video.

In 2023, the Kano state Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC) invited Ganduje for questioning over the video.

Ganduje did not honour the invitation and instead instituted a suit against the agency.

In March, a federal high court in Kano stopped the agency from inviting or questioning Ganduje over the bribery allegations.

The court held that the agency lacks power to probe the former governor over the allegation.