Published 30th May, 2023

By Tarinipre Francis

On his first day in office, Abba Kabir Yusuf, the newly inaugurated Kano State Governor, ordered the recovery of all government assets fraudulently sold off by his predecessor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

Yusuf made the announcement in a late-May 29 tweet, stating that “all public places and assets that were immorally plundered and sold by the Ganduje administration should be taken over by law enforcement agencies pending the final decision of the government”.

The governor accused the previous administration of indiscriminately selling state-owned lands along with other assets to associates and agents.

“We have noted that the last administration had sold lands in and around schools, religious and cultural sites, hospitals and clinics, graveyards and green areas, and along the city walls of Kano,” his tweet read in part.

Earlier, at the handover ceremony, Yusuf voiced displeasure with the N241 billion debt burden he was left to inherit, and additionally the absence of Ganduje.

“We will carefully study the reports and come out with our position on the debt and other matters. I am surprised that the outgoing governor is not around to hand over to me as a democratically elected governor, which has been the tradition.

“However, we will carefully study the reports and come out with our positions.”

On Sunday, May 28, Ganduje had stated that he would hand over to Yusuf ahead of his inauguration in order to attend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s inauguration ceremony.

Yusuf, however, said that the proposition was unacceptable to him.

“We insisted that it had to be today, but by 9 am, and surprisingly, we received very scanty handing over; even the transition committee handing over was also very scanty after we had suffered, including going to the press. However, we are collecting what is being submitted to us,” the governor said during his inaugural speech.

Yusuf also declared his administration’s willingness to find Abubakar Dadiyata, a journalist believed to have been kidnapped in Kano almost three years ago.

He pledged to engage all relevant authorities to bring him back and prosecute those responsible for his disappearance.

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