Kano State governor. Abdullahi Ganduje has accused his predecessor,
Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, of funding his presidential campaign with funds
budgeted for road construction in the state.

Ganduje made the revelation on Wednesday at the inauguration of
campaign committees for his re-election bid. He also vowed to
investigate Kwankwaso over a multi-billion Naira road project. He
revealed that the issue had been taken to the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation.  

According to Ganduje, so far, investigation by EFCC revealed how
Kwankwaso used money budgeted for the construction of five-kilometre
roads in the 44 local governments of Kano state for  his presidential
campaign in 2015.

In his words: “I was the deputy governor when the project was
conceived. Ninety per cent of the total sum of the contract was provided
by the 44 local governments while the remaining 10 per cent was
provided by the state government.

However, Kwankwaso collected the 90 per cent from the 44 local
government, paid the mobilisation fee and funded his presidential
campaign with the remaining balance. The Kwankwasiyya people have
started campaigning with the 5km road project, but I will expose them.”

He also alleged that EFCC discovered that the funds were converted to
dollars. However, Comrade Aminu Abdulsalam, a commissioner under
Kwankwaso’s government, said the allegation raised by Ganduje was a ploy
by the governor to  “to divert people’s attention”.

It was confirmed by Abdulsalam, who is the running mate  to the PDP
gubernatorial candidate, Engineer Abba Kabir Yusuf, that the contract
took effect during Kwankwaso’s tenure but originated from Ganduje’s
office when he was the deputy governor and commissioner for local
government.

“Let him tell the public how the contract was awarded, what happened
to it and who the contractors are. The 5km road project was not the case
investigated by the EFCC and it is not Ganduje that took the case to
EFCC. The EFCC has finished that case,” he said.  Ganduje, himself, has
in recent times been riddled with corruption allegations.  He was
recently revealed in a leaked video allegedly collecting kickbacks from
contractors.