From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
A chieftain of the Kano State All Progressives Congress (APC), Musa Illyasu Kwankwaso, has denounced moves by the state government to investigate the two high profile cases of alleged financial irregularities in the state, insisting that one cannot be an investigator and prosecutor in his own case.
Kwankwaso, a Commissioner for Community and Rural Development in the last administration, stressed that the Kano State Anti –graft agency was an agency of the state government and therefore, lacked the courage and will power to investigate, prosecute or give justice to the people of Kano State in these cases.
“They cannot investigate the alleged diversion of the Federal Government’s palliative that is traced to a property of the Chief of Staff and they cannot justly investigate the multi- million Naira drug procurement scandal that is linked to the nephew of the leader of the NNPP”.
Speaking yesterday, he also pointed that this was not the first time the state government was hurriedly initiating a probe over cases of financial and administrative malfeasance, adding that it has become a tactic they deploy to give soft- landing to officials believed to have questions to answer.
He also regretted that till date, the outcomes of previous investigations of financial misdeeds have not been made public, adding that the accused officials have also not been charged to court even as he emphasized that in the present multi- million Naira drug supply case, the governor’s public denial of knowledge of the alleged drug contract was a greater reason the persons allegedly involved must be dragged court to unravel the truth.
He tasked the Kano State government, in the spirit of its professed transparency, to invite the police to investigate the cases and to drag the offenders to court,adding that only a court can bring out the truth of the ugly developments.
The state has been rocked by two cases of alleged financial irregularities in the recent times. The first is the alleged palliative diversion linked to a top government official, while the second is the alleged drug procurement scandal exposed by a Nigerian film maker and content creator, Bello Galandanchi
Kano State Governor, Abba Kabiru Yusuf, has however, denied knowledge of any such contract award and has directed the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti- Corruption Commission to investigate.