I SHOULD HAVE SLAPPED KWANKWASO IN THE VILLA IF I HAD SEEN HIM-Ganduje.
The immediate past governor of Kano State, Dr. Umar Ganduje, stated yesterday that he would have slapped his predecessor, Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, if he had seen him in the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Ganduje was the former governor of Kano, and Kwankwaso was the presidential candidate for the New Nigeria People’s Party in the February 25 election, according to Saturday Vanguard. In recent years, the two have become bitter rivals.
After meeting behind closed doors with President Bola Tinubu, Ganduje accused Kwankwaso of being behind the destruction of property in the state as he briefed State House correspondents.
Ganduje said he would have slapped Kwankwaso if they had met at the Villa while he was enraged and speaking to state house journalists.
The former governor stated that he met with President Tinubu to brief him on the security situation in Kano State in the wake of Governor Yusuf’s demolition initiative.
When asked if he had met Kwankwaso, who shares the Villa with the president, he responded, “I am aware he is in the building, but we have not met. If we had met, I probably would have slapped him.”
According to Ganduje, the demolition was conducted without conducting an investigation or providing notice in accordance with the Land Use Act.
The former governor stated that he reported the matter to the president in detail and presented Usman Alkali Baba, the Inspector General of Police, with video evidence of the looting and vandalism that followed the demolition.
Ganduje stated that he adequately briefed the president on the demolition operation, which affected even Kwankwaso’s supporters, whom he accused of ordering the operation.
He stated that the governor, whom he referred to as Kwankwaso’s “stooge,” was no longer pleased with the reaction to the move.
In response to a question about the number of destroyed properties, he stated that human rights organizations were assessing the extent of the destruction.
He stated, however, that one of the affected developers had sued the government for over N10 billion.
The state government stated that the demolition was part of his campaign promise to “restore” the city’s urban development master plan, he explained.
In addition, he insisted that the exercise was not a vendetta against the previous administration of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and that many more demolitions would be carried out.
