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Tag: Kano

  • 8,000 screened for mass wedding in Kano

    The Kano State Hisbah Board has screened 8,000 prospective couples to participate in the state-sponsored mass wedding of divorcees, widows and spinsters.

    The Kano State Government had on Dec. 12, 2018 set up a 23-member committee on state-sponsored wedding of 3,000 widows, divorcees and spinsters in the state.

    The board’s Public Relations Officer, Alhaji Adamu Yahaya disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Saturday.

    He said during the screening that no fewer than 15 persons were found to be HIV positive while 23 women were also discovered to be pregnant.

    “The screening was conducted to ascertain the health status of the couples before the marriage.

    “The screening is mandatory as it will enable the board and each partner to know the health status of their partners before the marriage is conducted,” he said.

    He said the prospective couples were from the 44 local government areas of the state.

    He pointed out that as soon as the screnning was completed, the state government would fix the date for the conduct of the marriage.

    He disclosed that the screening of couples was still ongoing.

    According to him, the state government under the leadership of the Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje was committed to the success of the programme as it would help check prostitution especially among indigent unmarried young girls and widows.

    NAN reports that the 23-member committee on state-sponsored mass wedding was mandated to select and screen eligible beneficiaries across the 44 LGAs.

    The committee which is being headed by Prof Sani Zaharaddeen, Chief Iman of Kano Central Mosque, was directed to select 3,000 prospective couples, organise and conduct the mass wedding ceremony.

  • Three feared dead at PDP’s Kano rally

    No fewer than three people were feared dead while several others fainted yesterday at the People’s Democratic People (PDP) presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar at Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano.

    Unconfirmed reports claimed that the death of the three people was as a result of a clash between rival PDP groups outside the stadium.

    A large crowd of PDP supporters had gathered at the venue for several hours, waiting for Atiku’s and his team’s arrival.

    It was gathered that people fainted as a result of suffocation inside the stadium.

    Also yesterday, the Kano home of State Chairman of the ruling APC, Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas, came under attack by some PDP members, according to the police.

    Confirming the attack, Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Haruna Abdullahi Kiyawa, said “the attackers were by suspected PDP members”.

    However, Abubakar, when he arrived, said the country is witnessing an unprecedented setback in the areas of agriculture and the economy under the All Progressive Congress (APC) government.

    The PDP presidential candidate’s campaign train arrived at the Sani Abacha Stadium at about 5:55p.m., after the mammoth crowd had anxiously waited for several hours.

    Atiku, who was visibly elated over the mammoth crowd, was clad in Kwankwasiyya red cap and white baban riga.

    The PDP Presidential candidate said, if given the mandate in the February 16 presidential election, he would support the revitalisation of agriculture and the economy.

    According to him, “I will ensure that among my priorities would be the revitalisation of agriculture, industries and commercial activities to boost the economy, which has been killed by the APC government.”

    He noted that Kano, which is nerve centre of commercial activities in the North, was experiencing backwardness in business and commerce.

    He said: “Are you going to vote for PDP? If you vote for PDP from top to bottom and bottom to top, PDP government will revitalise business and the moribund industries in Kano. We will also boost agriculture.”

    Also speaking, the PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus told the PDP supporters that the Kano rally represents a revolution and a pointer that Kano people has embraced PDP.

    Director General of Atiku Campaign Organisation, Senator Bukola Saraki lamented: “There is hunger in Nigeria. The APC government has brought hardship on the people. There is need for us to vote them out.”

    Former Kano State Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankawso said the huge crowd was sending a message to Aso Villa that PDP has already taken over Kano.

    He said: “Today, Kano people and particularly, the youths have shown that Kano is for PDP and Kwankwasiyya.”

    Kano State PDP Chairman Suleiman Rabi’u Bichi said PDP would sweep the polls from top to bottom in Kano, “because Kano belongs to PDP”.

  • Ganduje orders shutdown of Kano stadiums ahead of Atiku rally

    Ganduje orders shutdown of Kano stadiums ahead of Atiku rally

    Kano state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has ordered the closure of the Sani Abacha stadium Kofar Mata for two weeks.

    The State government said that the closure is to pave way for general renovation works.

    The closure is coming five days to the campaign rally of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    According to the directives issued by the office of the state governor, Umar Ganduje, said the proposed general renovation works would last for two weeks.

    A reliable source, confirmed the issuance of the directive to shut down the facility, adding that the proposed general renovation works have inclusive, the installation of a new scoreboard, the running track and provision of sources for steady water supply to all parts of the stadium facility.

    However, a source said that the closure was to ensure that the PDP Presidential Campaign team does not have access to the stadium to seek for votes

  • Kano revokes N5b road contracts

    The Kano State Government has revoked over N5bn contract for the construction of four major roads in the state.

    The State Commissioner for Information, Mohammed Garba, disclosed this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Kano on Friday.

    He said the decision to revoke the contracts was taken during the weekly Executive Council meeting held at the Government House on Thursday.

    He said the affected roads were the Phase II dualisation of Kofar Dawanau-Dandinshe-Kwanar Madugu road awarded at the cost of N1. 2bn; dualisation of 5km roads in Ungogo and Warawa Local Government Areas awarded at the cost of N1. 4bn and N1. 2 billion respectively.

    Other road contracts revoked were the ones linking Kofar Sidi Ahmad to Kofar Dan ‘iya Aminu and Kofar Wambai; Kwarin Akuya, Dan Rimi, Sabon Birni Kurnar Asabe in Bichi and Fagge Local Government Areas awarded at the total of N357. 6m.

    Garba said the road projects in Bichi and Fagge were awarded on August 2, 2017 and November 13, 2017 , with completion period of four and 14 months respectively.

    He said the contracts were revoked following the inability of the contractor to complete the projects despite collecting advance payments of N204. 2m and N96. 2m respectively.

     

  • Court invalidates nomination of Buhari’s aide as Kano APC rep candidate

    A Federal High Court sitting in Kano, on Tuesday, nullified the nomination of the Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Broadcast Media, Shaaban Sharada, as the All Progressives Congress’ candidate for Kano Municipal Federal constituency in the House of Representatives.

    It confirmed Mutari Yakasai as the legitimate candidate.

    The trial judge, Justice Saadatu Ibrahim, upheld the result of the party’s primary election which produced Yakasai as the APC candidate.

    Based on Section 3 of the Electoral Act, she upheld that political parties lacked the jurisdiction to substitute a candidate elected through legitimate process.

    Yakasai’s counsel, Nuraini Jimoh, expressed satisfaction with the ruling, describing it as victory for democracy.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission’s counsel, Hassan Aminu, expressed the hope that the ruling would serve as a lesson to political parties to live up to expectations.

    However, Shaaban’s counsel, Ibrahim Sharada, expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling.

    He hinted that the defendant would appeal the judgment.

     

  • Arrested Boko Haram commander narrates deadly activities in Kogi, Abuja, Kano, others

    Arrested Boko Haram commander narrates deadly activities in Kogi, Abuja, Kano, others

    A suspected commander of Boko Haram terrorists, who was recently arrested in Lagos, Umar Abdulmalik, has disclosed his adventures in the crime world including being a terrorist and a bank robber.

    Abdulmalik confessed to have been involved in several bomb explosions in Kaduna and Kano states as well as Nyanya and Kuje bombings in Abuja.

    He said he partook in the 2012 Koton Karfe Prison break in Kogi State, where over 100 inmates were freed and asked to join his group to attack banks in Okene, Kogi State and Owo in Ondo State.

    The native of Okene, in an interview during the week, stated that the proceeds of the robberies were used to procure sophisticated explosives used for terrorism.

    Abdulmalik was tracked down penultimate Thursday in Lagos by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team. He was later paraded in Abuja along with seven other suspected members of his gang.

    The 39-year-old said an Islamic cleric, who he identified as Mallam Mustapha in Okene, initiated him into Boko Haram through radical teachings that frowned on western education and democratic system of government.

    He said, “I joined one of the Boko Haram cells in Okene headed by one Zeeidi and we carried out several bombings within Kaduna, Kano and Abuja. Zeeidi was the person providing the bombs and my job then was to take them to our target locations. After a while, the Department of State Services infiltrated our cell and started arresting members of our group. Mallam Mustapha was arrested and his mosque was demolished.

    “Zeedi also brought the idea that we should rob banks so that those of us who have not been arrested could have resources to continue with the struggle. He brought some guns and he suggested we should attack the Koton Karfe Prison so we could free our members who were detained there. The attack on the prison was successful and we freed a lot of our members.

    “We then attacked some banks in Okene and Owo and made away with large sums of money. We used some of the money we got from those robberies to buy advanced explosives, including materials we could use in producing non-metallic bombs that could beat metal detectors. A lot of our members were arrested after those bank robberies and the attack on the prison.”

    Abdulmalik said he relocated to Abuja in 2014 and formed a new gang during which they attacked Banex Plaza, Nyanya and Kuje areas.

    He stated that the gang was busted with five members arrested while explosives were recovered from them.

    He said he fled to Kano and returned to Abuja two years after to form a new gang that specialised in armed robbery.

    It was gathered that the IRT operatives, led by DCP Abba Kyari, got intelligence that led to the arrest of Abdulmalik and his gang members during investigations into the gruesome killing of seven policemen and a civilian, who were attacked in July 2018 at a police post at Galadima Roundabout, Abuja.

    In November 2018, the detectives made a breakthrough when they arrested a member of the gang, Abdulmalik Lukman, aka Lampard, in Ondo State.

    He reportedly confessed to taking part in the killing of the policemen and named Abdulmalik as the gang leader.

    “Lukman took the IRT operatives to the gang’s hideout in Abuja and four of his gang members: Abubakar Sidi; Yusuf Abdulazeez aka, Fine Boy; Suleman Zakariya; and Haruna Lamid, were arrested. But, Abdulmalik escaped with a bullet wound. Four AK-47 rifles belonging to the deceased policemen, six magazines, 270 rounds of AK-47 ammunition and two police walkie-talkie radios were recovered from the suspects,” a police source said.

    The source added that Abdulmalik fled to Lagos to treat the bullet wound at his younger sister’s home, where he was arrested.

    Speaking further about his robbery exploits, Abdulmalik said, “We robbed a man at a checkpoint in Okene. We pretended to be policemen and collected N1.3m from the man. We then moved to Abuja where we started robbing supermarkets. We also robbed a shop along Second Gate on the Abuja-Kaduna Road. We became friends with a dismissed policeman called Apin Iron. We used to buy drugs from him. In one of our encounters he told us that he knew several rich people we could rob and that he would get his share of the loot.

    “He gave us information about a man, who we robbed of N5m. We gave Apin Iron N2.5m as his share because that was what he demanded. He also gave us several other jobs before I had an accident and lost one of my eyes.”

  • Former Kano governor, Hamza Abdullahi dies at 74

    Former Kano governor, Hamza Abdullahi dies at 74

    Former military governor of Kano State and one-time minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Air Vice Marshal Hamza Abdullahi is dead.

    The late Hamza Abdullahi hail from Hadejia in Jigawa state. He was born on 2nd March 1945. He died at the age of 74 years.

    Abdullahi was confirmed dead at a German hospital after suffering from a brief illness on Wednesday.

    He was survived by three wives and children.

    His death was confirmed Garba Talaki, ‎ the Public Relations Officer of the Hadejia Emirate Council in Jigawa State.

    The Jigawa State Governor Muhammed Abubakar has expressed shock over the incident, declaring that both the state and the country at large lost a rare statesman.

    The governor in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Mallam Bello Zaki‎ said: “The deceased was a complete gentleman and elder statesman that was instrumental to the emergence of the old Kano state”. (more…)

  • Gandujegate: 'Video showing Kano Gov. receiving bribe is original' Publisher, Jaafar tells investigative panel

    The Publisher of the online Daily Nigerian newspaper, Jaafar Jaafar, has appeared before lawmakers at the Kano State House of Assembly investigating the bribery allegation against Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
    Recall that the media space was recently awash with published stories from the videos, sourced from Daily Nigerian, which showed the Kano governor receiving bribe in dollars at different instances. The total bribe is said to be about $5 million from persons believed to be contractors to the state.
    Although the state government has claimed the video was ‘cloned’ our experts confirmed the authenticity.
    Mr Jafaar also stood by the content of the videos when he appeared before the lawmakers at a public hearing on Thursday.
    During his cross-examination, he refused to disclose the source that provided him with the video-recording of Mr Ganduje while collecting the bribe.
    Earlier, Amnesty International had requested that the Nigerian government ensures the security of Mr Jafaar.
    Below is the statement Mr Jafaar made before he was cross-examined by the lawmakers. He also presented material evidence, a hard disk, and other stuff.

    STATEMENT BY PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF DAILY NIGERIAN AT THE INVESTIGATIVE HEARING OF KANO STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ON GOV. ABDULLAHI GANDUJE’S BRIBE-TAKING VIDEOS PUBLISHED BY THE ONLINE NEWSPAPER
    I, Jaafar Jaafar, am a member of the Board of Directors of Penlight Media Limited, the publishers of DAILY NIGERIAN do hereby submit this statement in answer to the invitation extended to me by the Investigation Panel of the Kano State House of Assembly.
    Introduction
    1. The DAILY NIGERIAN made a series of publications pertaining to the receipt of several videos of His Excellency the Executive Governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje collecting of bribe/kickbacks from some contractors in Kano State.
    2. Consequent upon the publications, we received an invitation dated October 18, 2018 with reference number KNHA/ADM/VOL .I/04 from the Kano State House of Assembly requesting us to appear before it in the conduct of its constitutional functions as contained in Section 129 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
    3. The invitation letter also requested that we submit a written statement containing the incidents pertaining to the investigation.
    4. Below is the narration of our understanding of the events as it relates to the videos.
    The videos
    5. More than two years ago, a contractor friend of mine complained to me that the governor had been receiving kickbacks, ranging from 15 to 25 percent, for every project executed in the state from contractors.
    6. We then agreed to plant spy cameras on his kaftan lapel so that he can capture the brazen act in hard evidence. He captured at least 15 clips, nine of which fully showed the governor’s face, body and hands collecting bundles of dollars.
    7. Before DAILY NIGERIAN publishes stories, pictures or videos on its website (www.dailynigerian.com), the editors subject them to rigors of verification to establish their authenticity or otherwise.
    8. In the case the video clips in question, our in-house technical expert, the editor-in-chief and editorial adviser certified that the videos were original and not doctored contents.
    9. Experts from Amnesty International Nigeria, BBC and PREMIUM TIMES also watched the clips and certified their authenticity before we went to press.
    10. The first video was published on October 14, 2018 comprising two clips that occurred on two different dates as shown on the videos themselves. The video showed the governor receiving bribe from a contractor in foreign currency specifically the monies were United States Dollar denominated. The video also showed his Excellency tucking these monies under his flowing gown and putting them inside an envelope.
    11. We are willing to share the content of the video without any form of editing to assist the committee in its investigation and to share the full clips of the others that were published to the Committee in the cause of the performance of their legislative function
    12. We thank the Committee for deeming it appropriate to invite us to make representations before it in respect of this matter
    13. Thank you.
    Jaafar Jaafar
    Editor-in-Chief
    Daily Nigerian

  • Kano assembly to investigate Gov Ganduje’s alleged bribery video

    The Kano State House of Assembly has set up a committee to investigate the authenticity of the video recording of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje allegedly taking a bribe.
    The video of Ganduje allegedly receiving a bribe from a contractor was published by Daily Nigerian.
    The committee was set up following a motion of urgent public importance filed by the member representing Warawa constituency, Labaran Madari, and seconded by the member representing Kano Municipal constituency, Baffa Danagundi.
    Madari pointed out that the House has the mandate to investigate any matter in order to ensure peace and harmony in the state.
    Speaking during the plenary, the Majority Leader, Baffa Babba Danagundi advised the executive arm of government to halt filing in a case before a court of law on the alleged video clip.
    According to him, the state Assembly has the constitutional mandate to investigate issues like this.
    The matter which gained the support of the legislatures was deliberated on the floor of the house, presided over by Speaker Kabiru Rurum.

  • Buhari meets Governors Ganduje, Amosun, Yari in Abuja

    Buhari meets Governors Ganduje, Amosun, Yari in Abuja

    President Muhammadu Buhari again on Friday met with three state governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
    The President’s Personal Assistant on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, disclosed this on his Twitter handle, @BashirAhmaad.
    Ahmad listed the governors who met with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to include Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) and Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara).
    “President Muhammadu Buhari this afternoon, met with Governors of Kano, Ogun and Zamfara States at the Presidential Villa, Abuja,” he wrote.
    Although the president’s aide did not disclose the purpose of the meeting, it is believed to be part of ongoing efforts to resolve the post-primaries crises that erupted in the ruling party in some states.
     
    Details later…