The Governor of Kano State Abdullahi Ganduje, has slammed Governor-elect, Abba Kabir Yusuf, better known as Abba Gida-Gida, over his plan to investigate those that sold properties belonging to the state government.
A statement credited to the Kano incoming Governor had warned developers that bought government properties to stop developing or working on the properties, hinting at plans to review such sales when he (Abba Gida-Gida) is sworn in on May 29.
Reacting to the said plan, Governor Ganduje, in a statement issued on Friday (today), said the Governor-elect’s grandfather is also among those who sold government houses in Kano.
He also said that Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s administration, in which he served as deputy governor, began the sales of government properties in the state.
According to Daily Trust, Ganduje made the statement in an audio file it obtained on Friday.
Abba Gida-Gida, who is a protege of Kwankwaso, had initiated plans to commence an investigation into how the government houses were sold and bought under the previous administration.
However, Governor Ganduje said sales of government properties were nothing new and that the governor-elect should go and ask his political father and grandfather how they began the policy years ago.
Recall that Ganduje served as Kwankwaso’s deputy between 1999-2003 and for the second term in 2011-2015 before succeeding him.
The duo, however, fell out shortly into Ganduje’s first term in office. In the said viral audio obtained by the news platform, Ganduje was reportedly heard saying, “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 are saying that we have sold government houses not knowing that his father in politics, his grandfather in politics was the one who started selling government houses.
“If he said it’s not true, let him go to a radio station and will get the list of the government houses his grandfather sold. Government houses that his father in politics sold out. This is not the time to enter that chapter.
“If I am to call out names of senior government workers and politicians that bought government houses, we can spend the night counting.”
The governor added that the sale of government properties was “nothing new”, adding “it has not started now, will not stop now and it is not a crime.
“This is nothing new. I worked in Abuja, I resided in a government house and at last, the federal government sold it to me.”
Ganduje added: “From the Federal to state level, the government is no longer building houses for its workers to reside. The ones it has have been sold to workers. It is nothing new.
“Government workers residing in its houses, most of them have been sold but those who bought them couldn’t reside because government workers are occupying them.
“Because there are new houses, government workers are being transferred into these kinds of offices and leave the houses to those who bought them.”
