…Says ‘I would’ve slapped Kwankwaso if I met him’
Former Governor of Kano State, Abubakar Ganduje, on Friday, in Abuja, lamented the demolition of several buildings in Kano State by the Abba Yusuf-led administration, accusing his predecessor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, of masterminding the development.
Ganduje addressed State House Correspondents shortly after a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa on Friday evening.
The distraught former governor said the demolitions were executed without due process and, therefore, breached the law.
Although Rabiu Kwankwaso ran for and lost the presidential election on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, the party’s candidate, Abba Yusuf, won the Kano State Governorship election.
The PUNCH reports that the simmering battle between the All Progressives Congress whose candidate lost the governorship election and the NNPP took an ugly turn recently.
In what the APC had termed a political backlash, the new state chief executive, in his inauguration speech on May 29, gave a marching order to security agencies in Kano to immediately repossess all public properties believed to have been sold by the Ganduje administration.
He alleged that they were illegally acquired and built.
Some structures demolished in the recent fiasco include Haji camp, Daula Hotel and shopping complexes around the Eid Prayer Ground in Kano, structures Ganduje said were products of Public-Private Partnerships.
Ganduje who served as Kwankwaso’s deputy from 1999 – 2003 and 2011 – 2015, blamed his former boss for directing Aliyu to carry out what he termed a vengeful campaign against the previous administration.
Although both men were in the Villa at the same period to see the President, Ganduje said they did not meet face to face.
When asked about the President’s response and if they had reconciled inside the Villa, Ganduje said “I know that he is in the building. But we did not meet inside. I would have slapped him if I met him inside.”
Punch
