The Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has appeared in a video clip where it was alleged that he collected up to $5 million bribe from contractors in the state.
According to the contractors, Ganduje collects between 15 to 25 per cent bribe on every project executed in the state.
The sting operation to capture the governor on camera was said to have begun two years ago when one of the contractors agreed to plant spy camera on his kaftan lapel while offering the bribe.
One of the contractors who spoke to the media anonymously was reported as saying the motivation for the footage was to reveal the depth of corruption in the country which is necessary to bring sanity in the process.
He said, “If my aim is to blackmail or extort the governor, I would have used the videos to get over a billion settlement or force the governor to pay the hundreds of millions of naira the state is owing my company or force him to pay back all the money I paid him as kickbacks”.
“We believe if public office holders are exposed, there will be sanity in the system even if I will not be the beneficiary in future”.
The Kano State Government, however, denied the allegations saying the video was doctored.
“We wish to state that there is no iota of truth to these allegations and if indeed there is any such alleged video, it is at best cloned,” the Kano state commissioner for information, Muhammad Garba, said in a statement.
“The government of Kano state is taking this matter seriously, and will exploit every appropriate and legal avenue to ensure that it gets to the root of the matter and the perpetrators are brought to book”.
Source: Daily Nigerian
However, Governor Umar Ganduje has threatened lawsuit after a news website reported that he had been caught receiving at least $5 million in kickbacks from contractors in Kano State.
A statement from Kano information commissioner said Mr Ganduje was a victim of a carefully manipulated video designed by opposition elements to deface his image as a crooked governor rather than a hard-working and compassionate leader.
“We wish to state that there is no iota of truth to these allegations and if indeed there is any such alleged video, it is at best cloned,” Muhammad Garba said in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES Thursday morning.
Mr Garba said the video comes as prominent Nigerians are becoming increasingly susceptible to manufactured video clips being used to cast them in a bad light before the public.
He also alleged that there was an attempt to blackmail the governor which failed, prompting those the commissioner said were opposition elements to push the video out.
