GandujeGate: Kano Assembly , Dilemma Of Public Expectations Versus State Govt Interest On Alleged $5m Bribe Investigations

From the day Kano State House of Assembly constituted a Seven-Man ad-hoc committee to ascertain the authenticity of the alleged Bribe-taking video of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje published by Daily Nigerian, the State assembly as well as Kano Political scenery came under the  spotlight of extensive media scrutiny.

In view of what transpired in the first episode of the political upheaval, where the Daily Nigerian Publisher Jaafar Jaafar,  appeared and presented his own version of the story before the  House Committee on the investigation, where the proceeding went live  both on conventional and social media platforms, Jaafar managed to answer tough questions concerning complexities embedded in the clips and responded accordingly.

Eventually, the Daily Nigerian Publisher still stuck to his own conviction that the videos allegedly depicting  Governor Ganduje collecting stove of well-packed minted U.S dollars are real and authentic.

Even though he admitted that his story is one-sided, but he said it does not blemish the originality of its contents.

In its intent to further its in-depth investigation, the committee  is now expected to beam its spotlight to the other side of the story, to make it more balanced and acceptable.

The epicenter of all the allegations – the State governor Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje – is now the man expected to appear before Kano assembly to narrate his own side of the story.

The gesture, if it goes as planned, would dismiss public perception that the panel of the investigation is far from grandstanding, and is a measure employed to show that everybody is equal before the law.

It also indicates that whoever tempt to go astray in the course of discharging his official responsibility or found wanting in staging to be used  as a puppet to dent people’s image will face the full wrath of the law in all its nakedness.

But there are some questions which need to be asked in order to broaden the public perspectives, that the Investigative Committee is fully committed to discharging its assigned duty or otherwise.

First of all, as part of the committee’s effort to balance and give all the embattled bodies equal treatment to corroborate their findings, what is the  possibility of inviting the State Governor Dr Abdullahi Ganduje to appear before the Public Hearing Committee to answer questions regarding the alleged bribe-taking videos?

If the answer is “No”, what might be the thought of Kano people about the committee’s earlier pronouncement that it will discharge the assignment on the basis of openness, equal treatment and without fear or favour, and if the answer is “Yes”, this will surely indicate that the committee is up to the task, being people representatives vowing to unravel the reality of the matter to its logical conclusion, so as to justify the confidence reposed in them.

But the bone of contention is: members of the Committee, as well as the overall legislatures of Kano 8th assembly should be aware that the Kano populace is watching the Investigative proceedings with keen interest and patiently waiting for what might be the eventual outcome at the end of the investigative proceeding.

Unarguably, whatever the case may be, the Committee members must know that there are three hurdles ahead of them, which are very hard to scale through without fallen into the shackles of public doubt.

Presently, the dilemma looming over the heads of the Committee members conducting the ongoing proceedings, are sternly staring from the three vantage point; to those expecting a verdict in favour of Ganduje, or to those looking at the allegations as nothing but the truth, and also the Kano people  watching every glimpse of the scandal.

Among these three angles; who is going to be satisfied with the potential verdict of the investigative committee of the alleged bribe-taking video?

Lastly, in view of the calibre of the Committee members headed by the House majority leader,  Bappa Babba Dan-Agundi is deemed necessary to eschew every step in coming up with untainted sound verdict acceptable to all and sundry.

Doing the needful will surely make their names written in an indelible gold ink, otherwise, their dignity will be dragged through the mud of history in as much as lopsided and preferential treatments are  given priority.

A Stitch in time saves nines.   

Adamu Aminu is a Practicing Journalist that can be reached at adamuaminu40@gmail.com