Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, governor of Kano State, has stated that the Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso administration, in which he served as deputy governor, began selling government properties in the state.
Ganduje made this declaration in response to demands by the new government of Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) to investigate all purchases of government property by the Ganduje administration, which was made in a recent viral tape.
According to the Daily Trust, the transition committee set up by Yusuf, a protégé of Kwankwaso, has issued “public warnings” to developers who purchased government properties to stop developing or working on the properties, implying that such sales will be reviewed when the governor-elect is sworn in on May 29.
In response to the governor-elect’s statements, Governor Ganduje claimed that selling government properties was nothing new and that the governor-elect should go ask his political father (referring to Kwankwaso) how the program was implemented.
Ganduje succeeded Kwankwaso after serving as his deputy for two terms, 1999-2003 and 2011-2015. They did, however, have a falling out shortly after he began his first term.
Ganduje can be heard saying in the now-viral clip, “Kwankwaso and Ganduje’s government, we are the ones who brought that policy, we sold out houses, most of them to workers, some to politicians.”
“They say we sold government houses without knowing that his father in politics, his grandfather in politics, were the ones who started selling government houses.”
“If he says it’s not true, send him to a radio station to get a list of the government houses his grandfather sold.” His father in politics sold out government houses. This is not the moment to open that book.
“If I call out the names of senior government employees and politicians who have purchased government properties, we could spend the night counting.”
The governor went on to say that the selling of government properties was “nothing new,” adding that “it has not begun, will not cease, and it is not a crime.”
“This isn’t anything new.” I worked in Abuja, lived in a government house, and the federal government eventually sold it to me.”
“From the federal to the state level, the government is no longer building houses for its workers to live in,” the governor stated. It has sold the ones it possesses to workers. It is not a new phenomenon.
“The majority of its houses have been sold, but those who bought them are unable to live there because government workers occupy them.”
“Because there are new houses, government employees are being transferred into these types of offices, leaving the houses to those who purchased them.”
CREDIT :DAILY TRUST
