A former Governor of Kano State Abdullahi Ganduje has allegedly sold the Kano Cotton Ginnery, located at Challawa Industrial area to Lesage General Enterprise Ltd, a company wholly owned and maintained by his immediate family, court documents have shown.
Mr Ganduje, who is the national chairman of the ruling APC, was recently dragged to court alongside his wife, son and five other persons by Kano state Government on allegations of official corruption, conspiracy, criminal breach of trust among others.
According to the charge sheet and accompanying exhibits sighted by our reporter, Mr Ganduje is accused of short-changing the state and robbing it of the property valued at N750,000,000 but sold at a discounted rate of N320 million.
The documents revealed that the money was not paid to the state government, while the title documents and possession had been taken away from the government of Kano State.
Part of the evidence tendered before the court indicated that the APC national chairman’s wife, Hafsatu Abdullahi Umar, was the sole signatory to the accused company used in converting the public property, while other documents revealed that Mr Ganduje’s children are both shareholders and directors.
The company which has RC No. 115922 and address at No.201 Zoo Road, Kano, has Umar Asiya Abdullahi, Umar Abdulazeez Umar, Umar Muhammad Abdullahi, Zainab Abdullahi as directors, while Fatima Abdullahi as company secretary.
All the four directors and the company secretary are Mr Ganduje’s children.
The prosecution also relied on a letter from the Kano Investment Company dated September 29, 2017 in which Mr Ganduje approved the sale of the property to his family’s company without disclosure or recurse to due process.
An inside source familiar with the valuation of the property told our reporter that even the estimated value of N750 million settled at by the prosecution was the amount claimed by a former managing director of a state-owned company managing the properties and investments of the state, Jibrilla Muhammed.
Mr Muhammed is the 5th defendant in the case.
According to the source, the actual value the property was between N1.5billion and N2billion.
The Kano State Government claimed that Mr Ganduje’s action contravened the provision of Section 311 read together with Section 79, and punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code (as amended).
When contacted, Mr Ganduje’s spokesman, Edwin Olofu, declined comment, saying since the matter is before the court of law, the court will determine the true situation.
Credit Gist New Today News in Newspaper Nigeria Headlines
