The petitioners stated that Mr. Kwankwaso was not a trustee of their funds, and therefore lacked the authority to make decisions regarding their retirement funds. They cited relevant sections of the law detailing how pension funds should be utilized.
Barely 24 hours after former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State handed over power to his erstwhile deputy, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, it was disclosed that state workers as well as pensioners had sent a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) demanding the repatriation of N2 billion in pension funds allegedly deposited by the ex-governor in a failed commercial bank.
In a petition signed by a lawyer, A.B. Bulama, dated May 20, 2015, the pensioners accused Mr. Kwankwaso of authorizing the deposit of N2 billion in Euro Bank Plc., Kano branch. The petitioners stated that, soon after the deposit was made, the bank went into liquidation. The petition accused the ex-governor of declining to pursue the return of the funds, or portions of it, from the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).
They urged the EFCC to invite Mr. Kwankwaso to explain why he chose not to follow up with a claim for a refund of the two billion pension funds by the NDIC.
The petitioners stated that Mr. Kwankwaso was not a trustee of their funds, and therefore lacked the authority to make decisions regarding their retirement funds. They cited relevant sections of the law detailing how pension funds should be utilized.
The petitioners also questioned the continued withholding of more than N10 billion of pension funds by the Kano State Commissioner of Finance and the state’s Accountant General. They added that, when they began to ask questions, the former governor told them that he had purchased three wire houses for them at the Free Trade zone in Kano. They also stated that the former governor claimed that the state’s housing projects, “Amana City,” had been assigned to the pension trust in lieu of the N10 billion in retirement funds being held by the state. The petitioners added that the former governor’s explanation and decision were illegal, fraudulent and contrary to the law.
The petition asked the EFCC to do a thorough job of investigating Mr. Kwankwaso’s questionable transactions with their retirement funds.