Wife to the governor of Kano State, Hafsat Ganduje, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged bribery and land fraud case reported by her son, AbdulAzeez.
An EFCC source said she was picked Monday evening after she had demonstrated her unwillingness to honour the commission’s invitation to her on September 13, 2021.
Our source refused to reveal whether she was eventually released, but said she gave some statements related to the petition against her.
Meanwhile, it reported earlier that Abdulazez petition EFCC to investigate his mother’s involvement in the land transaction over which he gave her some money as part payment.
EFFC asked Hafsat to appear at its headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, the 9th of September but she failed to turn up, though she was later said to have traveled out of the country for her last son’s graduation.
A family source says that the plots in which Abdulazeez was involved have been truly processed and Governor Ganduje had accented to the allocations which were given to Abdulazeez’s friends.
However, “internal strife came into play as Abdulazeez’s sister, Amina and her husband, who is the managing director of Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KNUPDA), hijacked the allocations and facilitated their reallocation to different allottees,” our source said.
The source did not say who got the new allocations.
Obviously disappointed and frustrated, Abdulazzez went to his mother to demand for the refund of the money paid for the plot by his associates.
Trouble began when the First Lady failed to refund the money.
Andulazeez was said to have reported the matter to his father, Governor Ganduje, who promised to appeal to the mother to refund the money.
Our source said the governor spoke with his wife but she rebuffed him, and he was said not to have control over her.
“The governor resigned in frustration and told his son to find whatever means he could to recoup the money from his mother,” the source said.
Newsmen tried to unravel the reason Hafsat Ganduje refused to refund the money to her son for onward refund to his friends since she has failed to secure the plots they are interested in for them.
“Honestly, I too cannot understand that,” another inside source said, but he made a conjecture that “perhaps she believed the money had been earned since the initial allocations were made to Abdulazeez’s allies. That’s just my own thinking,” he said.
Our source however revealed that it was a counselor (name withheld) in Kano Municipal who approached Abdulazeez for the plot and made the payment that is causing the fracas.
He however insinuated that the said counselor was fronting for “some businessmen who do not want to be known.”
