Abdulazeez Ganduje, the eldest son of Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, has taken legal action against the Kano State government for failing to pay his company, Global Firm Nigeria Limited, N82 million as final payment on a contract he fulfilled.
According to a report by DAILY NIGERIAN, on February 13, 2020, Mr Ganduje granted a contract of N189,913,590.54 to his son’s company for “CONVERSION OF MARIRI REHABILITATION CENTER TO IDP GIRLS SCIENCE AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE.”
The company received N94,556,795.27 in referral payment from the state Ministry of Local Government on May 7, 2021, representing 50% of the contract sum, with the remaining 50%.
The company was given another contract for the provision of computers and furnishings for the administrative block and entrepreneurship items at a cost of 12,294,331.23 to fill the deficit after the government reduced the contract by N177,619,259.36.
Despite supposedly completing the project, writing to the relevant ministries, and the involvement of some of the governor’s cronies, Abdulazeez’s father refused to sanction the final payment of N82,662,464.04.
According to insiders, the governor’s hesitation to sanction the payment could be linked to Abdulazeez’s September 2021 EFCC suit against his mother, Hafsat Ganduje, over a failed multi-million naira land deal that he (Abdulaziz) assisted.
Abdulazeez’s attorneys sought payment of N82,662,464.04 within seven days or face legal action, according to a letter seen by DAILY NIGERIAN issued to the Ministry of Education.
When contacted, the governor’s son acknowledged his intention to pursue legal action, but claimed that his father refused to approve the payment because he (Abdulaziz) refused to give the Ganduje Foundation a monetary kickback.
“I’m a very peaceful person. I did my best and explored all peaceful options to get the payment of my money, about N83 million, to no avail.
“I have not been paid either because of the petition I wrote against Goggo (his mother) or my refusal to give part of the money to Ganduje Foundation as kickback.
“I said I would not give cash, but donate materials to the foundation. But they insisted that I must donate money to the foundation and I swear to God that I will not.
“This is the money that I worked hard for. I executed the project diligently at the Mariri IDP centre. I have been waiting patiently to receive this money but there is no sign of paying it to me,” Abdulazeez added.
Mohammed Garba, the state commissioner for information, did not respond to a DAILY NIGERIAN enquiry on the matter.
Mr Ganduje was previously implicated in a kickback scheme in October 2018, when the DAILY NIGERIAN published a series of videos showing him accepting money from a government contractor.
Mr Ganduje, according to the executive secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Sadiq Radda, has a number of issues to answer about the corruption accusations brought against him.
“You can see in Kano, Ganduje has many cases to answer while in office, he will answer more out of office and sadly for the first time in Nigeria a son is taking his mother to the EFCC,” Mr Radda said.
( Daily Nigerian)