A former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, has said that he didn’t tamper with local government allocations during his eight years as governor.
He made this known at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, MSSN, scheduled to commence on October 12, 2024.
Shekarau said the organisation had shaped his life spiritually and otherwise.
Shekarau added that he never collected kickbacks from contractors as a two-term governor.
“When I contested the election, I had less than N100,000 in my account, and my entry into politics was not by choice but by persuasion.”
“I have never taken any negotiating percentages with any contractor. I always challenge them—if any contractor who has worked with me in the last 44 years knows that I have asked him for a percentage or brought any money, let him come out and say so.
“Secondly, none of my commissioners has ever brought one naira to me in the name of feedback from a contractor.
“No local government chairman, during my eight years as governor, has ever given me one naira. I have never tampered with their allocations,” he asserted.
DAILY POST reports that in 2018, an online newspaper, Daily Nigeria, published a video of the former Governor of the state, and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdulahi Ganduje, allegedly receiving bundles of dollars from contractors, which he stuffed into his “babanriga,” a traditional outfit.
Against this background, the Kano State Government filed an eight-count charge against Ganduje for allegedly collecting $200,000 from a contractor.
The state government also accused Ganduje of collecting $210,000 in kickback from “people and entities seeking or holding the execution of Kano State Government contract and or project for the remodelling of Kantin Kwari textile market as a bribe through one of the contractors (agent).”
Shekarau, who is also the chairman of the organising committee of MSSN said the association would introduce new programmes and processes that would consolidate the fostering of unity and also encourage members to participate in politics and governance.