The Kano State government has dismissed as untrue claim by the former governor of the state, Senator Rabi’u Kwankwaso, that the 2019 gubernatorial election was manipulated in favour of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
Recal that Kwankwaso had in an interview with the PUNCH, alleged that Ganduje did not win the governorship election but imposed on the people by powerful forces.
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But in a statement by the State’s Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, on Sunday, said contrary to the assertion of the leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Kwankwaso managed a well-organised election rigging network, particularly in the metropolitan local governments, where youths, mostly without even voters’ card were engaged to perpetrate unwholesome acts.
The statement said it was vividly clear that barely hours into the voting, most of the ballot boxes were said have been stuffed, only for the Independent National Electoral Commission to discover that either card readers were not used or the voters were not captured in its data and therefore had to cancel the results from many centres and declared the election inconclusive.
The commissioner pointed out that it was unfortunate that as a leader who was severally involved in the election process, Kwankwaso was still contesting the result of an election conducted by statutory body and upheld by courts of law.
The commissioner said just some few days ago, Kwankwaso was all over the media cautioning his followers against unguarded utterances but ended up making incendiary rhetoric unbecoming a person of his caliber.
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“The interview Kwankwaso granted the National daily in which he attempted to rubbish the Ganduje administration has done him more harm than good which completely negates the spirit of a genuine peace and reconciliation he preached to his followers in the last few days to avoid derailing, ”the commissioner said.
Garba stated that Kwankwaso should have thanked Ganduje for completing many of the projects he abandoned, adding that the people of Kano are paying the price for the unparallel policy of continuity that saw the completion of many projects in the last six years in the state.
“These projects include Aminu Dantata Flyover, Yahaya Gusau Road and Prince Audu Underpass, Five kilometre roads in Dawakin Tofa, Ungogo, Warawa, Rano and Tofa local governments; Mahmoud Salga Road, Jaba-Rimin Kebe Road, Independent Power Project at Tiga and Challawa Dams, among many others.
On the issue of education, the commissioner noted that as far as education is concern, the Ganduje administration has done a lot including payment of burden of over N15 billion backlog of scholarships to indigent students overseas left by the Kwankwaso administration.
He said so far, the sum of N3.5 billion has been paid for students in Sudan; N4.5 billion for Cyprus; N384 million for those in France, while it is in the process of paying students in Egypt and India.
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Garba said in addition to the implementation of the Free and Compulsory Basic and Secondary Education, the administration has been able to carry out massive infrastructure development in all its tertiary institutions and accreditation of many courses they offer.
The statement assured that despite the agitation for reconciliation that is ongoing among party leaders, the Ganduje administration would accordingly react to any attempt to rubbush the laudable achievements it has recorded and will not be distracted from carrying on with the responsibility for which it was elected into office.
