Court fixes February 13 to hear Ganduje’s bribery, misappropriation case

A Kano State High Court has fixed February 13, 2025, to hear the preliminary objections in the bribery and misappropriation case involving the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdullahi Ganduje.

The case, which was instituted by the Kano State Government, involves an eight-count charge of bribery, misappropriation, and diversion of public funds allegedly amounting to billions of naira.

Other defendants include Ganduje’s wife, Hafsat Umar, and others – Abubakar Bawuro, Umar Abdullahi Umar, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Limited, Safari Textiles Limited, and Lasage General Enterprises Limited.

The legal representatives for the defendants at Wednesday’s hearing presented several motions and applications, leading to the court’s decision to consolidate and adjourn for a unified hearing.

Counsel for Ganduje and two other defendants, M.N. Duru, SAN, requested the court to strike out an earlier application dated October 21, seeking facilities and a witness statement.

“We urge the court to strike out the application. My Lord, we intend to move our new application dated November 18,” Duru said.

According to him, the corrections were needed in the dates referenced in their affidavit and requested more time.

However, counsel for the applicants, Adeola Adedipe, SAN, argued that Ganduje’s withdrawal application should be dismissed rather than struck out.

“We have filed our counter affidavit dated November 15, 2024, and two additional counter affidavits dated October 18 and October 21. My Lord, we urge the court to dismiss the withdrawal application as it has not been moved,” Adedipe stated.

Several other defence counsels, including those representing the corporate defendants, also sought adjournments for corrections and consolidations in their filings.

In his verdict, Justice Amina Adamu-Aliyu struck out Ganduje’s application and overruled objections raised by the applicants.