By Muhammad Kabir

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, yesterday gave reasons why he was at ‘war’ with his predecessor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who he said left N300billion liabilities on assumption of office in May 2015.

He said such a huge debt made it almost impossible for him to run the affairs of the state. Ganduje, who spoke in Kano said: “It is on record that the same transition committee that the former governor and I appointed under my deputy governor, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, uncovered N300 billion liabilities even while Kwankwaso insisted that he did not leave any debt for me.”

“But because I felt then that debt, loan or liabilities were normal thing, I didn’t even bother to talk about it, but this really provoked Kwankwaso and he started making frantic moves against my government.” “Even when it was clear when we came into office that there was nothing in the coffers for me to pay salaries and that prompted us to seek loans so that we can start on a good note.”

He said Kwankwaso went to town saying he never borrowed a single kobo and that I was trying to push Kano into debt, a move that was clearly aimed at instigating the people against me.

“But the government under Kwankwaso left behind a huge debt while contractors were also not paid even as we were looking for money to complete many uncompleted projects; what do we do, we had to borrow to clear the mess left behind,” Ganduje said.

He said another reason why the former governor was against him was because of the chairmanship of the ruling APC in Kano. “We removed Doguwa for anti-party activity and the national headquarters accepted our position that it has followed due process, but Kwankwaso was adamant, insisting on Doguwa while the chairman recognised by the APC was Abbas.”

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