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The Kano State Government has filed new fraud charges against the former governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, his Commissioner for Local Government, Murtala Garo, and two other individuals.
According to the charges, Garo, Lamin Sani, and Muhammad Takai are accused of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, making false statements, and criminal misappropriation.
The state alleges that they mismanaged the statutory allocations of the 44 Local Governments, which were deposited into the State Joint Local Governments account from the Federation account. They are also accused of diverting N57.4 billion into several personal accounts belonging to Local Government cashiers and other personal and corporate accounts.
The state government further claims that the funds were converted into dollars for their personal benefit. Additionally, it alleges that they used the money to acquire properties, including a service apartment on Murtala Muhammad Way, a commercial apartment at Akoya Oxygen in Dubai, and a multi-billion Naira hotel in Jabi, Abuja. Other properties mentioned include filling stations on Gwarzo Road and Eastern Bypass in Kano.
The state plans to present 143 witnesses in the case. No court date has been set yet.
Earlier, on April 4, the Kano government had filed a suit against Ganduje, his wife Hafsat Umar, and six others, including Ganduje's son Umar Abdullahi Umar. They were charged with similar crimes. Additionally, on July 16, Ganduje and the former Commissioner for Justice, Musa Lawan, were charged with criminal conspiracy and misappropriation, with accusations of abuse of office.
Observed from NAN by Prudentj2
