By Eric Elezuo

The recent revelation that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating Rabiu Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano state, over alleged N2.5 billion pension fraud may not have come to a lot of Nigerians as a shock.

Kwankwaso is alleged to be in the middle of the storm brewing in Kano State at the moment concerning the emirship tussle of Kano Emirate between the reinstated Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II, who is known as Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and the deposed Emir Aminu Ado Bayero. While it is believed that the state government, which Kwankwaso arguably is a part of it, backs the reinstatement of Sanusi, the Federal government supports the continuation in office of Bayero, as he is a product of the immediate past governor of the state, Abdullahi Ganduje, who is now the Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Kwankwaso was the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in 2023, the platform under which the present governor, Kabir Yusuf, was elected.

TheCable reports that a source in the EFCC said that the said sum was diverted from the coffers of the Kano government when Kwankwaso was governor of the state.

The source also alleged that houses that should have been handed to pensioners at the time were “given to other persons” by Kwankwaso, who was governor of Kano from 1999 to 2003 and from 2011 to 2015.

The source told TheCable that “There was a time when a group of pensioners in Kano paid to have their own houses. The money was N2.5 billion, and they diverted the money during the Kwankwaso administration and didn’t give them houses,” the source said.

“The houses were given to other people. So we recovered the houses and returned them to the pensioners.

“But we are currently investigating because it is still a criminal offence. We invited him for questioning but he was not detained. It wasn’t recent and it came before the election.”

News of the investigation comes months after Boniface Aniebonam, founder of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), said Kwankwaso is destroying the party and making attempts to hijack the party’s structure.

In 2023, NNPP’s board of trustees (BoT) suspended Kwankwaso for alleged anti-party activities.

However, another faction of the party loyal to the former governor reversed the suspension.

Kwankwaso was subsequently expelled from the party after he failed to appear before a disciplinary committee.

It is yet to be ascertain if the parts Kwankwaso is playing the dethronement of Ado Bayero, and enthronement of Sanusi is the reason behind the sudden EFCC investigation.

It would be recalled that in 2020, Kwankwaso accused then President Muhammadu Buhari of ordering the dethroning and subsequent banishment to Nasarawa State of Mohammed Sanusi II.

Kwankwaso also derided the president as one who intervenes where he is not supposed to, but does not intervene where he supposed to.

In a statement, he was quoted as saying:

“Let me begin by saying today is a very sad day in Kano, Nigeria and by extension in the entire world, because His Highness the Emir of Kano (Sanusi) is a global personality.

“What we have seen is very sad because there is no responsible government that is supposed to take the kind of step taken by Kano State Government by dethroning Emir Muhammad Sanusi II.

“But, the big issue is that, as enshrined by section 35 of the Nigerian Constitution, even if you dethrone someone as Emir, you ought to allow chose wherever he so pleases to stay, that is even when you follow due process to dethrone him.

“However, like people who are close to President Muhammadu Buhari often say that, the President does not intervene in disputes; that, if people are in dispute the President just keeps quiet, but we in Kano do not see him (President Muhammadu Buhari) like that; we see him like he selects where he intervenes. And where he is supposed to intervene, he doesn’t, but where he is not supposed to intervene, that is where he does.

“You see leaders here in Kano State Government themselves are saying they were given the order to dethrone the Emir. He (President Muhammadu Buhari) is the one that gave them the order.

“The reason they are insinuating that, we are supporting the Emir and the Emir is supporting us is because, His Highness the Emir had said repeatedly that, whoever won the Kano State Governorship election should be given his mandate. Those are the kind of statements from the Emir that got them (APC Governorment) angry.

“And you see, the process they followed in the dethronement of the Emir is not the only problem, the most disturbing is the way and manner they humiliated the people of Kano by humiliating the Emir.

“I never issued query to His Highness Emir Sanusi II or did anything that looks like that. What I know is that, if you are Governor or President, you are supposed to know that, you are a leader, helper of the people, lover peace, not to use what you have like the security forces to muscle people like what we saw in Kano yesterday (Monday).

Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, the subject behind the popular Kwankwasiyya Movement has made and continue to make waves in the Northern political arena and beyond. The former governor of Kano State, who posterity gave pass marks for his eight years stewardship in the ancient city-state, seems to make a third appearance as his protégé, Yusuf, won the 2023 election in the state.

In the buildup to the 2019 presidential election, gave the likes of Atiku Abubakar, Aminu Tambuwal and Bukola Saraki a run for their money for the presidential ticket of the PDP.

In the prelude to the 2015 General Elections, Kwankwazo narrowly lost to the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari, at the party primaries held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos. He beat former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to the third place.

Kwankwaso was born on October 21,1956 in Kwankwaso village of Madobi Local Government Area of Kano State. He attended Kwankwaso Primary School, Gwarzo Boarding Senior Primary School, Wudil Craft School and Kano Technical College before proceeding to Kaduna Polytechnic where he did both his National Diploma, and Higher National Diploma. He did postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom a Middlesex Polytechnic (1982-1983) and Loughborough University of Technology (1983 -1985) where he got his master’s degree in Water Engineering. Kwankwaso was an active student leader during his school days and was an elected official of the Kano State Students Association.

Kwankwaso started work in 1975 at the Kano State Water Resources and Engineering Construction Agency (WRECA), serving as a civil servant for 17 years in various capacities and rising through the ranks as the principal engineer.

In 1992, Kwankwaso was elected as a member of House of Representatives representing Madobi Federal Constituency. His subsequent election as Deputy Speaker in the House brought him to the limelight of national politics.

During the 1995 Constitutional Conference, Kwankwaso was elected as one of the delegates from Kano, as a member of the Peoples Democratic Movement led by Yar’adua. He joined the PDP in 1998 under the platform of Peoples Democratic Movement in Kano led by Mallam Musa Gwadabe, Senator Hamisu Musa and Alhaji Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila. He was elected governor of Kano State in 2007 and served for two terms before being elected as a senator. He defected from the PDP in 2014 and returned on July 24, 2018.

The coming days will determine the authenticity of EFCC’s claim, or if it is just another witch-hunt to persuade him to dance to the Federal Government’s tune in the Kano Emirship tussle.