The Presidency has reacted to the viral Ganduje video, in which the Kano State Governor was allegedly spotted receiving bribe from contractors in the state.
According to Garba Shehu who spoke on behalf of the Presidency, President Buhari is aware of the video but there is little or nothing he can do about it. Garba Shehu stated that the Governor Ganduje was not accountable to the President. He added that the Kano State House of Assembly, that is constitutionally empowered to handle such cases, had already started investigating the matter.
“We all know that the governor is not accountable to the President. The House of Assembly is empowered by law to handle the case and we are all aware that the assembly has started investigating the matter.
“If we were in the military era, a military Head of State could question a military governor on matters like this. But it is not applicable in a democracy.
“The growing concern by some people has been that the anti-corruption fight at the federal level is not getting to the state and local government levels.
“But the President is helpless as far as the two other tiers of government are concerned. The President can’t force the state and local governments. He has no such powers under the constitution” he said.
It was further gathered that attempts to get the EFCC to speak on the matter since Wednesday up till Friday, have proved abortive. Punch reported that the Spokesperson for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, who was contacted on telephone said he would find out if the matter was under investigation and respond appropriately.
“I will find out and get back to you,” he said.
However, subsequent calls put through to Uwujaren were not answered while a text message sent to him was not replied to as of press time on Friday.
