Dr. Umar Abdullahi Ganduje, the outgoing governor of Kano State, left a burgeoning debt profile of N75.6 billion and N241.3 billion liabilities for the new government of Abba Kabir Yusuf. However, Alhaji Usman Alhaji, the outgoing Secretary to the State Government, acknowledged in his speech as he handed the reins of power to Yusuf, the departing Secretary to the State Government, that the Ganduje government had done its best to run the business of the State.
Alhaji stated that the state was allocated N9.2 billion, while the 44 Local Government Areas owed a collective N66.3 billion.
Abba Kabir Yusuf, the new governor, responded to this statement. He was astonished at the deviation from the State’s traditional method of transitioning power. The traditional way was in place from 1999 until 2015. During this period, Kwankwaso passed the reins to Abdullahi Ganduje.
“In fact that time, Kwankwaso wanted to stay behind for the swearing-in of Ganduje, so I see no reason whatsoever that he Ganduje could not stay to hand over but sent a letter that he wanted to hand over by 9 pm which we rejected, as it is against the constitutional provisions.
“We insisted that it has 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.
“It is so disheartening that the Government left a debt profile of over N241 billion; where are we going to source the money? And the internally revenue they are talking about is nothing to write home about.
“I ask Allah to reward Ganduje according what he did”.
Yusuf defended the SSG, stating that he actively provided assistance, including offering sound advice that went ignored.
cc: Daily Post Ng
