EFCC, CCB go after Kano’s anti-corruption boss for confirming Ganduje’s bribery video, confiscating assets

Soon after Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado said the video of the former governor Abdullahi Ganduje allegedly receiving alleged kickbacks—in the form of wads of cash—was genuine, two anti-corruption agencies started investigating his activities.
Due to past hostility between the Kano anti-graft chair and Mr. Ganduje, the intense scrutiny being conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) is thought to be a witch hunt disguising as an investigation.
The Code of Conduct Bureau informed the Kano anti-corruption commission in a letter dated August 14 that it was looking into a case involving an employee of your organization named Muhuyi Magaji Rimin Gado and an alleged violation of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.

The CCB requested the letter of appointment, pay stubs from July 2020 through 2023, and service records for Mr. Rimingado.

When Mr. Ganduje, the state’s governor at the time, suspended Mr. Rimingado through the state assembly in 2021, tensions between the two men began to rise. Although the accusations against him were vague, he was accused of turning down an accountant who had been sent to the agency.

For his part, Mr. Rimingado asserted that his suspension was due to the governor’s inability to tolerate his investigation into questionable contracts given to the first family.

Mr. Rimingado was ultimately dismissed by Mr. Ganduje in January 2023, two years after his suspension. The embattled Kano anti-graft chair successfully challenged Mr. Ganduje’s decision in court.

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate Abba Kabir Yusuf was elected governor following the March elections, but Mr. Ganduje persisted in disobeying the court order ordering him to reinstate Mr. Rimingado. The new governor immediately followed the court’s directive and put Mr. Rimingado back in his previous position.

The head of the anti-corruption agency in Kano declared in May that forensic examination of the widely circulated video of the former governor Ganduje allegedly accepting a bribe by pocketing dollars revealed that it was real and had not been altered.

Mr. Rimingado, who describes himself as an ardent opponent of corruption, claimed to have received numerous requests to look into the dollar video, which had been a constant source of shame and embarrassment for Kano state and had damaged the state’s reputation both inside and outside of the nation.

After being rehired, the anti-corruption chief soon discovered that Bala Inuwa Muhammad and his family, who were close to Mr. Ganduje, had allegedly stolen billions of state dollars from the Kano State Agricultural Supply Company (KASCO).

According to court documents viewed by Peoples Gazette, Mr. Inuwa was accused of diverting N3.3 billion from the KASCO account to his personal account and that of his son, Bala Inuwa Muhammad Jr., “without any justifiable reason.” The case is currently in court.

The third through fifth defendants on the list, Mrs. Halima Bala Inuwa, Najib Lawan Muhammad, and Incorporated Trustees of Association of Compassionate Friends, were also recipients of state funds.

The lawsuit was allegedly brought by the Kano state government at the anti-graft chief’s direction. The anti-graft chief is currently under fire from the EFCC and CCB for looking into Mr. Ganduje’s allies.

Mr. Ganduje, who no longer has governorship immunity due to his close relationship with President Bola Tinubu and his chairmanship role in the APC, may appear untouchable due to these factors, but Kano’s anti-graft agency is determined to remove his corrupt allies who are viewed as low-hanging fruit.

Fears that the agencies are no longer independent and have become pawns and tools of oppression in the hands of whoever is in the presidency are being stoked by the abrupt actions taken by the EFCC and CCB to launch an investigation into Mr. Rimingado just three months after his reinstatement.