The dollar videos of former governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje were not doctored, according to forensic examination, according to the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC).
An internet publication called Daily Nigerian had published various footage of Ganduje reportedly receiving payments from contractors in 2017.
The former governor had refuted the charge, claiming that the videos had been altered.
The agency’s chairman, Barrister Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado, said that the authenticity of the tapes had been validated while addressing at a one-day public dialogue on the anti-corruption crusade in Kano on Wednesday.
Since the release of the videos, he claimed, people have pressed the panel he led to establish the former governor’s guilt or innocence in the case.
He continued, saying that although his committee had started an investigation in 2018, it had been hampered by Ganduje’s immunity as governor at the time.
“Anybody that knows can tell that I am passionate about what I am doing which is fight corruption. People are disturbing me and pressurizing me to probe the dollar video. We are on it already, part of which is; forensic analysis confirmed to us that the video is not doctored,” he said.
“We are here to fight corruption in its entirety not only on one issue. So far, we have recovered property worth N200 million. We also have a corruption case of over N100 billion which we will continue and ensure that we recover the stolen properties, money and any other belongings of government and individuals.”
Academician Dr. Abdullahi Kani stated earlier in his speech that the failure to investigate corruption claims and societal tolerance of the accused are seriously undermining efforts to combat corruption.
Citing a UN study, he claimed that in 2019, over N675 billion was offered as bribe, demonstrating the nation’s failure to combat corruption.
Similar to this, IG. Maryam, a member of the state’s Civil Society Forum, said the state must implement the Freedom of Information Act to allow access to information that will expose corruption, adding that “the past governments of the state spent N47 billion on water but yet we are battling with water scarcity in the state.”
Civil Society Organizations under the direction of the Kano State Civil Society Forum, the media, and members of the general public attended the public dialogue.
Earlier, the Good Governance and Advocacy Group (GGAG) issued a warning against what it called the Kano government’s deliberate attempt to mock Ganduje.
The coalition claimed that the Kano administration had engaged in a cunning plot to tar Ganduje’s name with a political brush by exploiting the machinery of the state anti-corruption commission.
The coalition claimed in a statement issued on Wednesday in Kano by the coalition’s secretary, Muhammad Lawan Shuaibu, that the attempt was made to damage the reputation of the former chief executive, who gets along well with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in order to keep him from being appointed.