On Friday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the incumbent national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the board chairman of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
The appointment is not expected to affect the Kano State-born politician’s role as chairman of Nigeria’s ruling political party.
Interestingly, and despite Ganduje’s involvement in a major bribery scandal while he was Kano Governor in 2017, the politician continues to enjoy relevance in Nigeria’s leadership landscape.
READ ALSO: Kano Anti-Graft Agency Probes Ganduje’s Dollar Video
THE DOLLAR VIDEO
Video Showing Ganduje Collecting Bribe. Credit: Plus TV
In July 2023, the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC), began an investigation into accusations of bribery against Ganduje.
In the build-up to the investigation, the commission said it was looking into 2017 videos captured by Jafaar Jafaar, an investigative journalist, who filmed Ganduje collecting wads of dollars as a bribe.
The giver of the bribe was said to be one of Kano’s major contractors. Ganduje was filmed collecting the wads of dollars and stuffing them in his pocket.
READ ALSO: Kano Anti-Graft Agency Probes Ganduje’s Dollar Video
Muhuyi Rimingado, the chairman of PCACC, later stated that forensic analysis had shown that the videos were authentic. The commission also extended an invitation to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to become a partner in the investigation.
When the video first went public in 2017, Ganduje could not be prosecuted as a result of his status as an incumbent governor.
READ ALSO: UPDATED: Kano Gov’t Claims Hoodlums Stole Ganduje Trial Documents From State High Court
Apart from first denying the contents of the video when it surfaced and maintaining his innocence, Ganduje took notable legal action.
He filed a suit at the Kano State High Court, seeking to prevent the EFCC from investigating him regarding the matter.
Ganduje requested that the court restrain the anti-graft agency from taking action against him until a separate lawsuit between him and the investigative journalist who recorded the video was resolved.
Despite the discovery, Ganduje went on to become the chairman of the APC in August 2023.
Interestingly, the Kano State Government would later accuse “hoodlums disguised as #EndBadGovernance protesters” of stealing documents it was using in the high court trial of Ganduje. This claim was made in August.
The next court hearing on the matter is slated for February 13.
The post FLASHBACK: Ganduje, Tinubu’s New FAAN Chair, Caught Red-Handed Receiving Dollar Bribe appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.