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Kano Govt Revokes Contracts of Contractor Behind Ganduje Bribe Videos

Published

7 years ago

January 19, 2019

Eric

The Kano State Government has revoked three contracts awarded to Tiamin Multi Services Ltd, a company belonging to Aminu Mohammed. Mr Mohammed is believed to be the contractor behind the videos showing the state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, receiving money from contractors.

The three projects were worth N1.6 billion.

The state commissioner of information, Mohammed Garba, announced the cancellation at a widely reported press briefing on Friday, on the resolutions of the State Executive Council.

The state government gave “non-performance” as the reason behind revocation, which affected Tiamin and one other company, FNL Engineering Limited. It is unclear if the second company is also linked to Mr Mohammed.

Last year, an online newspaper, Daily Nigerian, published a series of videos showing Mr Ganduje collecting wads of dollar bills at different times believed to be kick-backs from contracts awarded by the state government.

Findings by Premium Times indicate that Tiamin’s managing director, Mr Mohammed, was the one who filmed the videos while delivering the cash to the governor at different times.

However, a senior official in the company, who prefers anonymity as he was not authorised to speak by his boss, confirmed that Mr Mohammed was indeed the unseen face in the infamous Ganduje videos.

He said the cancellation is not unconnected with the decision of Mr Mohammed to blow the whistle on Mr Ganduje’s alleged misconduct.

Ironically, one of the projects by Tiamin that was revoked by the government, dualisation of Kofar Dawanau-Dandinshe-Kwanar Madugu was mentioned in one of the bribe-taking videos among those the contractors needed the governor’s intervention for payment.

Mr Ganduje was heard promising to talk to the state’s Accountant General on the outstanding payments.

The other two projects by the same contractor revoked by the government are roads linking different parts of Bichi and Fagge local government areas.

Mr Garba said the road projects in Bichi and Fagge were awarded on August 2, 2017 and November 13, 2017 with completion period of four months and 14 months respectively.

He said the contracts were revoked based on the contractors’ inability to complete the projects despite collecting respective advance payments of N204 million and N96 million.

Mr Ganduje is enmeshed in the bribe-taking scandal in spite of his denial and his suit against the news platform and its publisher, Jaafar Jaafar.

A probe into the scandal by the Kano State House of Assembly was also stalled in November by a high court of Kano State at the instance of Mr Ganduje.

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed resentment over the misconduct as captured in the videos.

He was reported to have made references to it at a meeting with Nigerian community in Paris last year, and at a meeting of his party’s campaign council penultimate week.

On Thursday, Mr Buhari re-echoed the dilemma he expressed at the party meeting on the irony of campaigning for Mr Ganduje with the allegation still around the governor’s head.

Mr Buhari mocked the governor for going to the extent of receiving the bribes personally and “smiling”. He said he hoped the issue would be cleared before his scheduled campaign visit to Kano and suggested the videos could have been doctored.

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Senate Approves Tinubu’s N1.15tr Domestic Loan Request to Fund 2025 Budget Deficit

Published

20 hours ago

November 12, 2025

Eric

The Senate has approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to raise N1.15 trillion from the domestic debt market to cover the unfunded portion of the 2025 budget deficit.

The approval followed the adoption of a report by the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt during plenary on Wednesday.

The committee noted that the 2025 Appropriation Act provides for a total expenditure of N59.99 trillion, representing an increase of N5.25 trillion over the N54.74 trillion initially proposed by the Executive.

This expansion created a total budget deficit of N14.10 trillion. Of this, N12.95 trillion had already been approved for borrowing, leaving an unfunded deficit of approximately N1.15 trillion (N1,147,462,863,321).

In a related development, a motion by Senator Abdul Ningi was adopted, directing the Senate Committee on Appropriations to intensify its oversight to ensure that the borrowed funds are properly implemented in the 2025 fiscal year and used strictly for their intended purposes.

President Tinubu had on November 4th requested the approval of the National Assembly for a fresh ₦1.15 trillion borrowing from the domestic debt market to help finance the deficit in the 2025 budget.

The President’s request was conveyed in a letter. According to the letter, the proposed borrowing is intended to bridge the funding gap and ensure full implementation of government programs and projects under the 2025 fiscal plan.

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APC’s Joe Igbokwe Calls for Dismissal of Soldier Who Stood His Ground Against Wike

Published

1 day ago

November 12, 2025

Eric

A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Joe Igbokwe, has called for the dismissal of the soldier who resisted the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

The soldier had blocked Wike and officials of the FCTA from accessing a portion of land in the FCT.

The officer, claiming he was acting on instructions, told Wike that he would not be allowed into the property. Wike, however, questioned his authority, leading to a heated confrontation and name calling.

Reacting on Facebook, Igbokwe questioned who was behind the military officer in challenging the FCT Minister.

He wrote, “Who is this man in uniform? Of what meat is he fed? Who is beating the drum for him? This is unacceptable? His uniform has to be removed.”

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Senates Rejects NNPCL’s Explanation, Orders Refund of N210trn to Govt

Published

1 day ago

November 12, 2025

Eric

The Senate has rejected the explanations provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) regarding the ₦210 trillion outstanding against the oil firm.

It came to the conclusion on Wednesday that the money, which had not been accounted for, must be refunded to the Federation Account by the company.

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts chaired by Aliyu Wadada, which has been on the probe for months, took the decision on Tuesday after the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, failed to turn up at its resumed sitting at the National Assembly.

The session was called to give the NNPCL the opportunity to make clarifications on the answers the company provided to the 19 questions the panel asked the firm about the ₦210 trillion.

Following a review of the operations of the NNPCL from 2017-2023, the committee sighted the unexplained transaction, totaling ₦103 trillion (accrued expenses) and ₦107 trillion (receivables) in the audited financial statements of the firm, prompting it to raise the queries.

After weeks of back-and-forth between the committee and the NNPCL, the NNPCL eventually responded to the 19 questions.

However, at a resumed session, Senator Wadada frowned at the absence of Ojulari, whom the committee said gave no reasons for staying away, consequently rejected the explanations.

The Chairman of the committee, Senator Aliyu Wadada, while speaking on the panel’s findings, said the responses were not only unsatisfactory, but were also contradictory.

“NNPC claimed ₦103 trillion as accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion as receivables -amounting to ₦210 trillion. On question eight, NNPC’s explanation on the ₦107 trillion receivables -equivalent to about $117 billion -contradicts available facts and evidence provided by NNPC itself. The committee is duty-bound to reject this,” he stated.

Wadada further questioned how the firm could pay ₦103 trillion in Cash Calls to Joint Venture (JV) partners in 2023 alone, despite generating only ₦24 trillion in crude revenue between 2017 and 2022.

“Cash Call arrangements were abolished in 2016 under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. How can NNPC claim to have paid ₦103trn in one year, when it only generated ₦24trn in revenue over five years? Where did NNPC get that money?

“As far as this committee is concerned, that figure is unjustifiable and unacceptable. The ₦103 trillion must be returned to the Treasury. This will be concluded when the NNPCL appears before us,” he stated.

The committee said it would have been better for the current management of the NNPCL to admit that it encountered challenges in explaining what happened to the funds than giving contradictory answers to the questions.

“If the present management of NNPCL is finding it difficult to provide acceptable answers, it is better they say so. The committee will not hesitate to subpoena former officials of NNPCL and NAPIMS,” Wadada added.