The petitioners called for a discreet investigation into the case over the land worth N1.2 billion.
Some indigenes of Kano State have alleged that Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has issued out a landed property that belongs to the state government to one of his relations.
This was contained in a petition sent to the Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) through the Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Kano Zonal Office.
The petitioners called for a discreet investigation into the case over the land worth N1.2 billion.
They accused the family of the governor of using impunity to convert a state property situated at Dawanau Town Area of Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area to Umar Abdullahi Umar, a public officer working at Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Umar Abdullahi Umar, popularly known as “Abba" allegedly engaged in corrupt practices of large scale using his influence as a member of the governor's family.
It was also alleged that a hundred hectares of vast land formerly occupied by the Kano state ministry of works was in a similar manner allocated to a member of the governors family and subsequently sold in units.
The petition reads, “Request For Discreet Investigation Alleged 1.2 Billion Naira Of Land Corruption Case Contrary To Sec.12 And 53 (3) Of The Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Act (2006).'
“We are the concerned Kano State indigenes with zeal and passion for good governance as well as transparency and accountability in government. We write to bring to the attention of this commission of a monumental corruption going on in Kano state.
“Corruption is taking place on a large scale with impunity and the family of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje are on the forefront. There has been an outcry from markets to mosques, public easement is also not spared with the spark of impurity and abuse of office.
“This complaint is on the allegation of corruption where a landed property belonging to the government of Kano State situated at Dawanau Town Area of Dawakin Tofa Local Government, popularly known as 'Gidan kwalta' along Dawakin Tofa road was corruptly converted to personal property of the member of the governor's first family.
”The man involved is alleged to have been Umar Abdullahi Umar known as 'Abba' is a public officer working at Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) whom was according to credible sources seconded himself to serve at the government of Kano state under his father, he has been engaging in corrupt practices of large scale using his position as the member of the governor's first family as well as a government official.
”The one hundred hectares vast land formerly occupied by the Kano state ministry of works has in a manner to confer corrupt and unfair advantage to the governor’s son, who also doubles as public officer been allocated to him and the land was disposed of through his associate as well as frontier, named Muhammad Magaji LIMAN with contact number 0803 337 3851 via LAMAD NIGERIA LIMITED.
“It was later subdivided and converted to more than 238 plots of land under the said LAMAD Nigeria Limited which was instantaneously sold at an estimated sum of N2m, N5m, N10m and N15m depending on the location, given the approximate total worth of over N1.2bn. It is important at this juncture to draw the attention of the ICPC that this arrangement is not a Public Private Partnership or anything that the government will benefit from in return, it is obviously corruption on a large scale which if allowed to go unchecked, public properties are no longer safe.
"It is, therefore, our hope that an investigation will be conducted and appropriate action should be taken accordingly."
SaharaReporters can recall that some weeks ago, Hafsat Ganduje, wife of Kano State Governor, was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over bribery and land fraud case reported by her son.
This was after she had ignored an invitation by the EFCC over her alleged involvement in the land scandal.
Mrs Ganduje had earlier been invited to report to the EFCC office in Abuja on September 13, but she did not appear and the EFCC then threatened to arrest her. Sources close to her later said she travelled to the UK at the time to attend the graduation of her son.
Investigators quizzed Mrs Ganduje over allegations relating to the land fraud in a petition by her son, Abdulazeez Ganduje.
Abdulazeez had dragged his mum to the EFCC, sources familiar with the matter said, suggesting a pattern of corruptly using family access to power for private enrichment.
A source said the young man had reported to the anti-graft agency that he was approached by a property developer to help facilitate the acquisition of some plots of land in Kano with some hundreds of thousands of US dollars and at least N35 million as “facilitation commission.”
It was further learnt that Abdulazeez said he paid the sum in dollars to his mother, Hafsat.
“But three months later, (the property developer) discovered that the plots of land he wanted and had paid the first family for had been allocated to other buyers and he then requested to be refunded,” the source was quoted as saying.