Alleged bribery: Court stops Kano Assembly from probing Ganduje

AHigh Court in Kano State has ruled that the House of Assembly has no power to investigate the bribery allegation against Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.

Ganduje had been under a probe by the assembly over video clips showing him allegedly receiving kickbacks from some contractors.

The governor Ganduje had approached court and challenged the power of the lawmakers to investigate him.

The presiding judge, Justice Ahmed Badamasi, yesterday averted that the first and second defendants, (the assembly and its seven-man investigative committee) lacked powers to investigate the matter.

He ruled that the defendants could not investigate the bribery allegation against the complainant.

Badamasi declared that the publisher of the online newspaper, Daily Nigeria, Jaafar Jaafar, that released the video clips, should have handed them over to the police or any anti-graft agency as they are the only bodies that have powers to investigate bribery allegations.

“An order of injunction is hereby made preventing the parties from conducting further investigation in respect of the matter,” he ruled.

Badamas, who backed his judgment with Sections 128 ( 2) and 129 of the constitution, declared that the assembly had no right or power to conduct criminal investigation against the governor.

Counsel to the assembly, Mohammed Waziri, later told journalists that he would consult his clients on whether they would appeal the judgement or not.

The third defendant, who is also the state’s AttorneyGeneral, Ibrahim Muktar, expressed satisfaction with the judgement.