Kano State Government has reacted to the bribery allegation leveled against Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje blackmail and extortion plot. It vowed never to succumb to it.

A statement signed by the Commissioner of Information, Mohammed Garba, yesterday, described a online report which claimed that Ganduje was caught “red handed” receiving a bribe from an unnamed contractor as malicious and unfortunate. An online media had released a report that it was in possession of video clips where Ganduje was receiving kickbacks in hard currency for projects executed in the state.

It alleged that the governor was seen in different clips receiving the bribe amounting to 5 million dollars in total.

The media also claimed that the clips had been presented to President Muhammadu Buhari.

However, despite calls from sundry quarters to go to town with them, and even the promise by the media that it
would make the clips available to the public, it had failed to do so as at press time.

Reacting, the state governmnet, yesterday, dared the online publisher to make good it threat. The statement read: “The attention of Kano State Government has been drawn to a malicious report by an online media
platform, alleging that the Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was involved in an inappropriate conduct, after foot dragging by the online media to give clarity to the allegation with a clear view to blackmail and extort the Governor.

“The blackmail did not come as a surprise to the government and good people of Kano State particularly at a time when we are approaching general elections. Evidently, Kano being the strong- hold of the APC and expected to produce the highest votes in the upcoming general elections is a target of campaign of calumny.

“It is also not surprising that the stuff is published by one who has for long been working for the opposition and an antagonist of the APC government in Nigeria.

“We wish to state that there is no iota of truth to these allegations and if indeed there is any such alleged video,
it is at best cloned.

More so, in this era of technological advancements, some evil-minded people often take advantage to blackmail and extort and assassinate the character of people that do not patronise them.

“It will be recalled that just recently, the Inspector General of Police, Emir of Kano, Governor of Adamawa and many others were ridiculed when their cloned videos and pictures went viral respectively.

“It is surprising that the same editor of the online medium making the baseless allegations against the governor was the one who came out to defend the Emir, arguing that the video was cloned. Indeed it was.”

Garba said as proof that the online media is bent on discrediting, blackmailing and assassinating the character of the governor, it had yet to reveal the identity of the giver of the bribe, who is also supposed to be a culprit.

“We are therefore calling on the general public to be vigilant as we heard from good authority that many of such cloned videos involving highly placed persons considered as obstacle to the opposition agenda ahead of 2019 will be released in peace meal.

“The government of Kano State is taking this matter seriously, and will exploit every appropriate and legal avenue to ensure that it gets to the root of the matter and the perpetrators are brought to book. We also call on the good people of Kano and particularly members of the APC to remain calm and always be law abiding” said the statement.

“His Excellency Governor Ganduje will remain focused on delivering the dividends of democracy to the good
people of Kano including other national assignments. He will never succumb to blackmail or negotiate with blackmailers”