President Bola Tinubu on Friday met separately with two former Governors of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Abdullahi Ganduje.
The two former Governors took turns to meet privately with the Nigerian leader, Friday evening at his office in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Speaking to newsmen after the closed-door meeting with the President, immediate past Governro of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje said he updated the President on the ongoing demolition exercise being carried out in the State by Kano State Government, led by Abba Yusuf.
Ganduje alleged that the demolition exercise was masterminded by his predecessor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to settle political scores.
The former Governor said he was in the Presidential Villa to brief President Tinubu on the heat that the actions of Governor Yusuf’s administration was generating in Kano, warning if he is not curbed, the situation might degenerate into something of a religious crisis.
He lamented the fact that the shopping complex around the New Daula Hotel developed under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement and approved by the state’s executive, was demolished on the directives of Kwankwaso, without any investigation, without any notice, by the Yusuf administration.
“We appointed a technical committee right from the beginning. They submitted a report to the Executive Council. The Council approved for the PPP project. The PPP project is 90% executed, but now without any investigation, without any notice, this new government under the directive of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso demolished the building. The issue is now in a court of law,” he lamented.
While responding to Ganduje’s outbursts, when he took his turn to brief State House Correspondents, Kwankwaso described the demolition exercise as legal and in line with campaign promises made by the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) in Kano State.
He maintained that the demolition is in line with the solid and concrete promise the governor (Abba Yusuf) made to demolish any building structure built within government premises.
On Ganduje’s claims and allegations against him, Kwankwaso, who emerged from the President’s office along with Senator-elect Jubril Abdulmumin, also accused Ganduje of abusing office while serving as Governor, alleging several cases of land-grabbing.
Kwankwaso, who said they were both summoned to the Villa by President Tinubu, over the tension being generated by the demolition in Kano, disclosed that the President was shocked when he was informed about Ganduje’s alleged misdeeds as Governor of the state.
The NNPP candidate in the 2023 Presidential election, alleged that Ganduje illegally acquired the demolished properties.
“The President was shocked. Are you not shocked that somebody will sell University? Are you not shocked that he demolished the only University? Daula Hotel, for those of you who are in Kano, you know the old Daula, demolished to zero and that is a faculty under the University Science and Technology. He demolished that one. Are you not shocked?
“The President was shocked. He didn’t know. He even mentioned that he talked to somebody to go and find out for him. But when I told him, I said you are a Muslim, very soon you are going for Sallah. How can you go under that circumstance and pray in that place? And even the Triumph place he is talking about, you are Journalists. You should be angry because that’s your constituency, he demolished completely and put shops everywhere,” he said.
According to Kwankwaso, his party, under Governor Abba Yusuf, was only fulfilling the campaign promise it made to demolish such structures.
“You see the Governor is doing what we campaigned with. I wanted to be President, I campaigned also. And I went to Kano and told them that these places, schools, in fact most of our schools in Kano were being encroached and it is our policy to make sure that the land they encroached on are returned to them. We will not allow anybody either local government Chairman, or Governor to go sell such places,” he said.
Kwankwaso dismissed his successor’s claim, accusing him of appropriating government property for himself and family members.
Kwankwaso conceded that he was open to work with the President to move the nation forward, adding that discussion on the issue was ongoing.
While noting that himself and the President had come a long way, Kwankwaso affirmed that he would not join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as Tinubu was only looking at a government of national unity.
Asked whether the issue of a ministerial appointment for him was discussed, he said: “The issue came up but we are still discussing. We will see how it comes to fruition. We will be very happy to see how we can move the country forward.”
It would be recalled that both Kano political leaders (Kwankwaso and Ganduje) had been at loggerheads for more than five years over what has been explained to be a war of supremacy.
However, the old wound was reopened on Friday when both men, who had separately visited President Tinubu, decided to also address State House Correspondents separately, each one accusing each other of wrongdoings and throwing curses and threats at each other.
Voice of Nigeria reports that Ganduje was the deputy governor under the Kwankwaso’s administration between 1999 – 2003 and 2011 – 2015.
N.O
