Trouble for Ganduje as Kano governor Abba Gid Gida reinstates sacked anti-corruption boss Magaji to reopen probe on his dollar bribe.
The former Kano governor Abdullahi Umaru Ganduje may soon be quizzed over alleged corruption as his successor, Abba Yusuf reinstated Muhuyi Magaji as the chairman of the Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC).
Abba reinstated Magaji who was sacked by Abdullahi Ganduje on Wednesday, June 21, 2023.
A statement signed by Sanusi Bature, the governor’s spokesperson, said the reinstatement of Magaji was to ensure the completion of his tenure.
“Recall that Barr Muhuyi was suspended from office by the previous administration in questionable circumstances,” the statement reads.
Bature said the reinstatement is with immediate effect and in compliance with a court order.
On July 16, 2021, the Kano house of assembly asked Magaji to step aside for a month over his alleged opposition to the accountant-general of the state.
Magaji was not recalled for a while. In January 2022, he filed an application for the reversal of his suspension at the national industrial court in Abuja.
On March 1, 2022, a federal high court sitting in Kano dismissed an ex parte application filed by Magaji seeking to stop an investigative panel instituted by the state house of assembly and restrain the police from investigating, arresting or intimidating him.
In April 2022, Magaji was arrested at the Sokoto governor’s lodge in Abuja, where he had gone for screening as Kano governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He was thereafter removed from office by Ganduje after the state assembly said it investigated and uncovered several infractions against him.
Magaji alleged at the time that he was fired because he was investigating some capital projects in which the name of Ganduje and his family prominently featured.
In May 2023, the national industrial court sitting in Kano ordered Magaji’s reinstatement as chairman of the PCACC with immediate effect.
In October 2018, a video published by Daily Nigerian, an online newspaper, showed Ganduje allegedly receiving bundles of dollars and stuffing the wads into his flowing white dress or ‘babanriga’.
According to the newspaper, the governor had requested for $5 million from the contractors who recorded the video.
Speaking on a program on DailyTrust TV on Wednesday, Magaji said the commission couldn’t open an investigation into the case since 2018 because of Ganduje’s immunity status as governor.
Asked if he was going to continue his investigation of Ganduje, Magaji said: “When I said I will investigate Ganduje’s dollar case, he was the incumbent governor…I was working under him. Let alone now that he is a former governor?”.
“So I meant every word I said. At that time, I told you we will open an investigation and we are investigating.
“But there are certain limitations, because any incumbent governor, deputy governor, president or vice president has immunity under the Nigerian constitution.
“So there was a limit to what we could do. Now, the limit is no more. The commission will do what is necessary.”
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