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Tag: Ganduje

  • Ganduje: Kwankwaso not welcome in Kano

    Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has challenged Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso to launch his 2019 presidential campaign in Kano.

    Ganduje spoke yesterday at the Government House at an empowerment programme on money transfer for women.

    About 6,600 women from the 44 councils each got N15,000 to boost their business.

    The governor said: “Kano is not and will never welcome Kwankwaso. The people have the constitutional right to make their democratic choices. And as such, we have all the right to reject him and we have already rejected him.

    “We never considered him from day one as a presidential material. We shall continue to maintain our position about him. We know nobody but President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “We, the great people of Kano, as he knows, will explore every democratic means possible to reject (Kwankwaso) and show him the exit from political participation, even before the general election comes.

    “We witnessed the demise of distinguished personalities, of which he chose not to come; we had fire outbreaks and this man did not care to come and sympathise with the victims.

    “We raised a special committee to find the cause of the disasters and collect donations for the victims. A staunch Kwankwanso follower was included in the committee, but Kwankwanso didn’t allow him to participate in the committee’s meetings, neither did he send a dime as his contribution.

    “Kano people, I am asking you, does this man have any concern for you and your families? In whose interest is he doing all these things? This man doesn’t even have an iota of feeling about Kano people.

    “Because he knows he is not welcomed in Kano, he chose to stay away and launch his unorganised and unpopular campaign elsewhere.

    “Kano is solely for Buhari come 2019. That is why we said we are waiting for him to come to Kano and launch his campaign. We shall use all democratically accepted ways and say No!”

    On the empowerment programme, Ganduje said: “We are doing this to uplift your standard of living and make you self-reliant because we have greater concern for you and your families.

    “This we are doing in compliance with President Muhammadu Buhari’s spirit of human development. We believe that any step taken by our dear President deserves to be followed.”

  • Ganduje gives scholarship to 100 Borno orphans

    Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has offered a primary to tertiary level scholarship to 100 Borno children orphaned by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    This is the second time the government would support children orphaned by the Boko Haram insurgency with free education.

    Ganduje stated this during a reception for both the first and second batch of the adopted orphans yesterday. He pledged to take care of them all.

    He said: “The Kano State government is serious about the future of these children, and that is why we thought there should be a synergy between us and the Borno State government. We have promised to educate these children from primary to tertiary level.

    “You are our children and we will continue to cater for you until you become adults. We shall train you on both Islamic and Western education. Ours is to help shape your future. I assure you that you will not lose anything, even parental care.”

    Ganduje explained that the government has secured assistance from some development partners, non-governmental organisations, community based organisations, and other individuals, to realise the project.

    Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima thanked Ganduje for the gesture and praised Kano for being the only state to help the orphans.

    He said: “This gesture reminds us of the long standing relationship between our states, spanning over 100 years.

    “Kano is the only state that shows our orphans this kind and magnitude of love. We are grateful sir.”

  • ‘Political hawks strained my relationship with Ganduje’

    Embattled ex-Kano State Deputy Governor Prof. Hafiz Abubakar has blamed “political hawks” for his sour relationship with Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.

    According to him, “those who orchestrated the crisis had been at their game right from the inception of the Ganduje-led administration, always bringing one divisive or negative tendencies to tarnish my name and damage the good relationship I enjoyed with Senator Rabi’u Kwankwaso”.

    Hafiz, who addressed a news conference yesterday, refuted claims by the government he was paid over N120 million as entitlement at a certain time.

    He said: “My persecution by the Ganduje-led administration is because of my unflinching loyalty to my political Godfather, Senator Rabi’u Kwankwaso, which was perceived as divided loyalty by some people who then capitalised on it to perpetrate their sinister aim.

    “In all this, my approach was to resist being dragged into it, and counsel the governor to be wary of those hawks trying to plunge the government into needless crisis.

    “My continued principled position of cautioning the governor was mischievously perceived, and sold to party members and government as devided loyalty.”

    According to the former deputy governor, claims by the government’s spokesman Muhammad Garba are lies fabricated to dent his integrity and that of his family.

    He challenged the government to produce any document backing its claims that he received the amount and others.

    Hafiz reiterated that the money legitimately allocated to his office and official trips were often not released to him as he had to lodge in hotels with his entourage, paying from his pocket.

  • Ganduje release N132m to farmers

    The Kano State government has disbursed N132 million to the All Farmers Association (AFAN) to facilitate its tractor lending programme.

    Governor Abdullahi Ganduje stated this yesterday when he inaugurated 50 new tractors bought under the programme, initiated by AFAN.

    According to him, the seed money was meant to motivate the association to mitigate the problems of mechanisation.

    He said: “There is a huge gap inhibiting agricultural development in this country, which is mechanisation. Our agricultural production does not match the needs of our economic development. That is why we must support programmes such as this to enable us move ahead.

    “The government cannot buy tractors and give to farmers (as loans) – it is no longer practicable. Right from the distribution, politicians will hijack the tractors or the farmers themselves will collect the tractors, sell and marry more wives.

    “As a politician, if you decide to prosecute defaulting farmers, you will lose votes, so you reluctantly allow them go unpunished. This is not the best, so a sustainable way, like this programme, must be fashioned out to aid our mechanisation process.”

    Commissioner for Agriculture Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna explained that the programme targeted famers’ cooperative societies, who were expected to deposit a percentage of the cost of the tractors, while repayment was spread over two years.

    Chairman of AFAN Faruk Rabi’u Mudi said the tractor loan was stress-free without mortgaging of land such that farmers would be able to acquire them easily.

  • Petition: Police re-enforces kano deputy governor’s security

    The Kano State Police command said on Monday said that security has been beefed up around the deputy Governor, Hafiz Abubakar.

    This followed, an alarm, he raised that his life was under threat in a petition to the Zone l AUG and state Director of DSS.

    Spokesman of the Police in Kano, Magaji Musa Majia, disclosed that all necessary measures had been taken to protect the deputy governor’s life.

    He said: “As number two citizen, the deputy governor deserves protection from us.

    “So, we have deployed more security personnel to his residence and convoy and we have placed another team of undercover security operatives around him for effective surveillance.”

    Also, Police Public Relations Officer of Kano Zone One Headquarters, DSP Muhammad Sambo Sokoto, said the office of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police had received the petition.

    The Deputy Governor, a loyalist of former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, have been at crossroad with Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.

    In 2014, Kwankwaso tipped Abubakar, an academic and a Professor in Nutrition at Bayero University Kano, to run with incumbent Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje.

    In a petition dated 30th July, 2018 and addressed to Kano State police commissioner and copied to the Assistant Inspector General in charge of Zone I, and the state director of the DSS, Abubakar sought deployment of more security personnel around him.

    He said the state government had released funds to mobilise youths from the 44 local government areas of the state to protest against his stay in office and that he should resign or face impeachment.

  • How we survived recession, paid salaries by Ganduje

    •Kano govt employs 50,000 youths

    Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has said his government survived recession and paid salaries due to its ability to manage meagre resources and block leakages and waste.

    Ganduje, who was represented by the Head of Civil Service, Muhammad Auwal Na’iya, spoke at a two-day stakeholders’ conference in Kaduna State, to mark 10 years of the implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme with a view to appraising its impact.

    He said: “When we assumed the mantle of leadership three years ago, our administration was not insulated from the global economic meltdown and recession which imposed limitations on our earnings.

    “The adverse effects of the recession lingered long, creating a stumbling block on our capacity to meet our desire from fast tracking development and improving the quality of well-being if it’s citizens.”

    The governor was happy that despite the constraints, the state has been able to modestly deliver on most of its aspirations on socio-economic development.

    He added: “Among the foremost challenges we encountered on assumption of office was salary payment to 55,377 civil servants, amounting to N3.7 million. We were equally confronted with a number of local government councils that were unable to pay salaries due to a shortfall in federal earnings.”

    The governor noted that the state is currently engaged in delivering services and projects to bring succour to the people.

    He, however, urged the Pension Trustees to look at issues and suggest ways to get around identified challenges and proffer solutions.

    The Kano State government has provided direct jobs and skills development opportunities for about 50,000 youths in the last three years, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has said.

    According to him, his administration also initiated the Matasa Madogara programme “to make our youths more useful to the society, which is also one of the prioritised areas of this administration”.

    The governor spoke at the closing of the first Kano Youth Summit, themed: “Youth Inclusiveness as a Driver for Sustainable Growth and Development”.

    He noted that his administration earmarked N258 million for the construction of community skills and development centres at Kano Municipal and Dawakin Tofa Local Government Areas, while MAFITA, a DFID programme, provided the equipment and master craft persons for the centres, envisaged to start with 360 apprentices.

    “The government, in collaboration with Mafita, a DFID programme, has provided skills acquisition training to over 5,000 apprentices in different trades under the supervision of 655 master craft persons. Similarly, phase II of the programme will recruit 3,000 apprentices under the supervision of 900 master craft persons,” he added.

    Besides job creation, Ganduje said his administration has prioritised youth inclusiveness in decision making, in line with the guiding principles of the Universal Declaration for human rights.

    “I implore our youths to join hands, accept the changes and shun vices, violence and other crimes to be self-employed, responsible citizens and future leaders,” Ganduje added.

  • Kwankwaso has lost political relevance – Ganduje

    Kano State Governor Abdullàhi Ganduje has dismissed his predecessor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, as a spent force.

    He said the Senator of Kano Central has lost political relevance with his recent defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 13 other senators and 36 House of Representatives members.

    The governor said the defection of Kwankwaso and others would not affect the chances and fortunes of APC in any way.

    Addressing reporters yesterday in his office, Ganduje stated he was not personally bothered by the exit of his political rival.

    He said: “We are not scared by their exit. Their defection doesn’t constitute any havoc to our great party, the APC, at all levels. People should keep eyes (open) to what will happen during election.

    “Our dear President has been doing the needful in terms of developing the nation, coupled with his efforts in efficient service delivery. Good governance is at its peak. The war against corruption is successfully being waged.”

    He added Kwankwaso’s exit will not be felt in the state: “I want you to go and study the situation on ground in Kano.

    “His (Kwankwaso) defection does not change the political mood in the state. Nobody cares to be disturbed by their actions.”

    The governor said when his predecessor was in the APC “his intention was to vie for presidency. But when it appeared to him, in black and white, that there is no vacancy in the Villa, he now decided to leave on his own.”

    He said Kwankwaso should be ready to battle it out at the polls next year.

    “When he secures a presidential ticket from the party he cross carpets to, then he should wait and see how we can slug it out with him. He will fully understand how popular and loveable our President Muhammadu Buhari is.

    “Kano will give more votes to our President, than what he got in 2015 election.

    “From the 2015 election to date, those who could not vote because of age limit, are now grown up, meaning they will now be eligible to vote.

    “Hence, Buhari stands the chance to get five million votes from Kano,” Ganduje boasted.

     

  • Kwankwaso’s defection will not affect APC, says Ganduje

    The Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje ‎ says the defection of Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso and other lawmakers to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) would not affect the chances of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019.‎

    This is contained in a statement signed by Abba Anwar, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor and made available to newsmen on Friday in Kano.

    ‎”Their defection will not constitute any problem to our great party, the APC, at all levels. People should keep their eyes (open) to what will happen during election.

    “Our dear President has been doing the needful in terms of developing the nation, coupled with his efforts in efficient service delivery.

    “Good governance is at its peak and the war against corruption is successfully being waged.

    “I want you to go and study the situation on ground in Kano, his (Kwankwaso ‘s) defection does not change the political mood in the state. Nobody cares to be disturbed by their action,” Ganduje said.

    The governor said when his predecessor was in the APC his intention was to vie for Presidency adding, “when it appeared to him, in black and white, that there is no vacancy in the Villa, he now decided to leave on his own.”

    He said that Kwankwaso should be ready to battle it out at the polls next year.

    Ganduje said when Kwankwaso secures a presidential ticket from the party he cross carpets to, then he should wait and see how we will slug it out with him.

    He said that when the time comes, the senator would fully understand how popular and loveable President Muhammadu Buhari is.

    “Kano will give more votes to our President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 , than what he got in 2015 election.

    “From the 2015 election to date, those who could not vote because of age limit, are now grown up, meaning they will now be eligible to vote.

    “Therefore, President Buhari stands the chance to get five million votes from Kano State by grace of Almighty Allah,” he said.(NAN)

  • Kano Assembly ‘loyal to Ganduje’

    The Kano State House of Assembly has restated its support and loyalty to the All Progressives Conference (APC).

    The Speaker, Yusuf Abdullahi Ata, who dispelled rumours of defection by some party members, said 33 of the 40 lawmakers remain loyal to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He reiterated that six lawmakers, who are staunch followers of Kwankwaso, and one PDP member, who clinched the mandate through court judgment, are still with them.

    Ata noted that among the six APC supporters of Kwankwaso, negotiation have reached an advanced stage to join the Ganduje supporters.

  • ‘Kwankwaso’s defection blessing to Ganduje’

    KANO State Commissioner for Rural and Community Development Iliyasu Kwankwaso yesterday described the defection of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), as both a blessing to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Reacting to the defection of Kwankwaso, Iliyasu said his defection was longer news because he had been “echoing it for the past six months, as such, his sudden defection will not affect the fortunes of Governor Ganduje’s re-election, come 2019”.

    According to him, Senator Kwankwaso’s ploy politics was to capture the already established structure of the state PDP, as well as installing his preferred candidates.