The Kano state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje has opened up on a viral video clearly showing him as he stuffs bales of dollars into his pockets in 2018.
DAILY GIST gathered the video which was first published by DAILY NIGERIAN NEWSPAPER in 2018 alleged that Ganduje collected the bribe in dollars by stuffing the wads of money in his white “Agbada” also known as “babariga” cloth.
The Editor-In-Chief of Daily Nigerian, Jaafar Jaafar, in 2018 who exposed the videoa appeared before the lawmakers and defended the authenticity of the video.
The video sparked outrage on social media, with many calling for the impeachment of the Governor.
Ganduje, who enjoys immunity from prosecution as a sitting governor, has not been probed for the scandal by any anti-graft agency.
However, speaking with BBC Hausa on Friday, Ganduje disclosed that several videos showing him stuffing bales of dollars into his pockets in 2018 were fake.
“No doubt the video is fake,” Ganduje said
“We are making some underground plans, which we will not reveal. But I assure you it is fake, and all those behind it will be put to shame.”
Governor Ganduje has already sued Daily Nigerian, which first published the videos in 2018, demanding N3billion in damages. But the case has not made progress in the court.
On Friday, Ganduje took his case for self-exculpation to BBC A Fada A Cika programme, aired on Friday evening.
Asked by the interviewer to confirm whether he was the person in the video, Ganduje responded by saying that the video was doctored to show him collecting something.
“Even your picture can be tampered to show something on your head or hand. And you know it’s possible. People always tend to believe falsehood.
“The fact is that we will take action against the matter,” he said.
“Did he ever take dollar bribe”, asked the interviewer.
Ganduje responded:“It is a lie. Nothing of that nature ever happened.
“It was just part of a scheme to stop me from contesting election – and I contested; to stop me from winning election – and I won.
“But that is not the issue, the big issue that we will deal with those behind it,” he said.
The video damaged Ganduje politically and gave him the nickname ‘Gandollar’.
My dollar videos were fake – Ganduje pic.twitter.com/XGqx45eMUk
— NaijaMedia News (@NaijamediaNews) March 20, 2021
In the interview, Ganduje also spoke about the achievements of his administration.
He said his government has undertaken projects that will be remembered for more than 100 years
The projects that the governor cited were the bridges he built in Kano, and the Muhammadu Buhari Hospital, which he said was equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment.
He said the hospitals built by his government would reduce the number of people going abroad for treatment.
