Ganduje files suit seeking to prevent EFCC from investigating him over dollar stuffing

FORMER Kano State governor Dr Abdullahi Ganduje has asked a high court to restrain the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from inviting or investigating him over video clips showing him receiving wads of dollars from a contractor.

Back in 2019, a video went viral in which the then Governor Ganduje was seen stiffing wads of dollars into his agbada. Apparently the money was a kickback from a contractor who had been awarded a state contract and the video published by Daily Nigerian, showed the former governor receiving bundles of dollar notes.

While the governor debunked the content of the videos, the Kano House of Assembly subsequently set up a committee to investigate the allegations. However, the committee is yet to turn in its report four years later and a new assembly was inaugurated on Tuesday, with it assumed that the probe will be re-opened.

Earlier this week, Dr Ganduje, through the former Kano State attorney-general, asked the court to declare that the invitation and interrogation of the State Universal Basic Education Board chairman and accountant-general in connection to the video illegal. In the court case he filed, the EFCC is the only defendant in the suit.

His suit read: “A declaration of this honourable court that by virtue of the supremacy of the 1999 constitution as established by Sections 1 (1) thereof, since the Kano State House of Assembly has begun investigation pursuant to its powers under section 128 of the 1999 constitution in connection with the video clips of bribery allegation against Dr Abdullahi Ganduje. The defendant cannot exercise its investigative powers under the Sections 6, 7, 13 and 46 of the Economic and Financial Crimes (Establishment) Act 2004 (EFCC ACT), until after the Kano State House of Assembly concludes or bring its investigation to an end.

“A declaration of this honourable court that by virtue of the supremacy of the 1999 constitution as established by Sections I (1) thereof, and the doctrine of separation of powers since there is a pending Case No: CV/1598/2021, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduic y, Jaafar Jafaar & Anor, before high court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja (Coram: Hon. Justice Y. Halilu) in which Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is challenging the authenticity of the said video clips. The defendant cannot exercise its investigative powers under the sections 6, 7 and 13 of the Economic and Finance Crimes (Establishment) Act 2004 (CFCC ACT), until after the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja (Coram: Hon. Justice Y. Halilu) has decided the matter before it.”