Kano high court to rule on whether house of assembly has the right to investigate Ganduje on Dec 6

KANO High court will pass its ruling on the substantive suit filed on behalf of the state governor Abdullahi Ganduje challenging the legitimacy of the state house of assembly to probe him for collecting a $5m kickback on December 6.

Last month, the Kano State House of Assembly set up a seven-man ad hoc committee to investigate the authenticity of a video clip in which Governor Ganduje was seen receiving the bribe. Over the last month, the video, originally published by online media platform Daily Nigerian, showing the governor receiving wads of dollars from a man said to be a contractor and stuffing them into his clothing, has gone viral on social media.

In the short clip, the governor is seen receiving wads of dollars from a man said to be a contractor and stuffing them into his clothing in what critics say was a bribe to secure a government contract. Governor Ganduje has dismissed the video as fake and as a forgery but to get to the bottom of the matter, the Kano State House of Assembly decided to act and ascertain the truth.

A seven-man panel was set up to investigate the claims but in a swift counter-reaction, Mohammed Zubair, the national coordinator of the Lawyers for Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria, filed a suit challenging their action. He has already got an injunction preventing further sittings until the substantive suit is heard.

Yesterday, Justice Badamasi of the Kano High Court adjourned the suit between Mr Zubair, the Kano House of Assembly, the chairman of a seven-man committee probing the allegation, Baffa Babba Dan Agundi and the state attorney-general until December 6 for judgment. Mr Zubair had sued the defendants, seeking an order of interlocutory injunction to stop the Kano State House of Assembly and its agents from investigating the alleged $5m kickback involving Governor Ganduje.

When the matter came up for hearing yesterday, counsel to the plaintiff, Nuraini Jimoh, argued that the assembly has no powers to probe the criminal allegations against the governor. According to him, the assembly only has the powers to make laws and to establish an anti-graft agency to probe such matters.

Justice commissioner Ibrahim Muktar, who is also the third defendant in the matter, added: “By virtue of my office, my own is to follow the law. I have perused the application and I stand with the plaintiff. I adopt all the processes by the plaintiff, including his argument.”

He urged the court to disregard the counter-affidavit filed by the first and second defendants. However, counsel to the defendants, Mohammed Waziri, told the court that the Kano State House of Assembly investigative panel engaged in a fact-finding mission and not an investigation of criminal allegation.

He added: “I want to emphasise that there is no doubt that what the house of assembly is investigating is allegation of crime against the governor. By doing so, they are exercising their powers to expose crime and it is now for the judge to differentiate between crime and corruption.”