National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has rebuked Kano State governor Abba Yusuf to stop using diversionary tactics to cover up for his failure to deliver dividends of democracy to the people.
Ganduje in a statement by his spokesman Edwin Olofu on Friday accused the governor of shifting public attention from his inability to account for statutory allocations to the state since the inception of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
The APC chairman was reacting to the decision of the Kano State Government to file criminal charges against him over alleged bribery of $413,000, and N1.38 billion.
Ganduje said that the latest attempt by the state to drag his name in the mud would fail adding that it spoke volumes of the level of crass ignorance and disregard for the rule of law by the Governor Abba Yusuf-led administration.
“In their desperate attempt to malign me and my family, they either forgot or probably cannot conduct themselves by the dictates of the law,” he said.
“They failed to take judicial notice of the recent pronouncement of the Federal High Court in Kano which ruled that the so-called offence I am being accused of is a federal offence that can only be prosecuted by the Attorney General of the Federation and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“Rather than join issues with my traducers in Kano over the trumped-up charges levelled against me, I would implore them to redirect their energies towards easing the plights of our people in Kano.
“They still have the opportunity to revert to my blueprint for the sustainable growth and development of Kano State. It is not yet late in the day for them to emulate my developmental strides. They can still salvage the situation as my tenure was devoid of any wrongdoings.”
Ganduje who ruled Kano State between 2015 to 2023, described the decision by the administration to set up two committees to probe him over alleged misappropriation of public property, political violence and missing persons in the state as a welcome development.
He, however, said that it would have been in the best interest of the state to extend the dateline of the probe to flag off from 1999 to date.
“As the saying goes, he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. It shouldn’t be seen as targeted at my administration alone,” Ganduje said.
“It should not be seen to be borne out of malice, vindictiveness and ill will. It should be for public good and interest.
“We conducted the affairs of governance in the state openly and transparently during my tenure. We don’t need to be seeking direction from our masters to do what is proper.”