Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The Kano State Government has reacted to the bribery allegation leveled against Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, insisting that they would never succumb to blackmail and extortion.
A statement signed by the Kano State Commissioner of Information, Comrade Mohammed Garba, on Thursday morning, described the online report against the governor as ‘malicious and unfortunate’.
The statement read, ” The attention of Kano State Government has been drawn to a malicious report by an online media platform, alleging that the Governor of Kano State, His Excellency Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was involved in an inappropriate conduct, after foot dragging by the online media to give clarity to the allegation with a clear view to blackmail and extort the Governor.
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“The blackmail did not come as a surprise to the government and good people of Kano State particularly at a time when we are approaching general elections.
“Evidently, Kano being the stronghold of the APC and expected to produce the highest votes in the upcoming general elections is a target of campaign of calumny.
“It is also not surprising that the stuff is published by one who has for long been working for the opposition and an antagonist of the APC government in Nigeria.
“We wish to state that there is no iota of truth to these allegations and if indeed there is any such alleged video, it is at best cloned.
“More so, in this era of technological advancements, some evil minded people often take advantage to blackmail and extort and assassinate the character of people that do not ‘patronise’ them.
“It will be recalled that just recently, the Inspector General of Police, the Emir of Kano, Governor of Adamawa State and many others were ridiculed when their cloned videos and pictures went viral respectively.
“It is surprising that the same editor of the online medium making the baseless allegations against the governor was the one who came out to defend the Emir, arguing that the video was cloned. Indeed it was.
“To further prove that the online media is bent on discrediting, blackmailing and assassinating the character of the governor, the online media has yet to reveal the identity of the giver of the bribe, who is also supposed to be a culprit in the eye of the law.
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“We are therefore calling on the general public to be vigilant as we heard from good authority that many of such cloned videos involving highly placed persons considered as obstacle to the opposition agenda ahead of 2019 will be released in piecemeal.
“The government of Kano state is taking this matter seriously, and will exploit every appropriate and legal avenue to ensure that it gets to the root of the matter and the perpetrators are brought to book.
“We also call on the good people of Kano and particularly members of the APC to remain calm and always be law abiding” said the statement.
The statement insisted that “His Excellency Governor Ganduje will remain focused on delivering the dividends of democracy to the good people of Kano including other national assignments.
“He will never succumb to blackmail or negotiate with blackmailers”
It could be recalled that an online media, Daily Nigerian, had alleged that it was in possession of video clips where the Governor Ganduje was receiving kickbacks in hard currency for projects executed in the state.
The online medium had alleged that the governor was seen on different clips receiving the bribe amounting to USD 5 million in total.
The medium had alleged that the clips had been presented to President Muhammadu Buhari.
So far, the medium had promised to make the clips available to the public but was yet to do so as at press time.