From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
In past three weeks, the struggle for the hearts of the people of Kano State by the gladiators of power has taken a front stage. This situation made prominent the use of information, misinformation or half-truths to attract attention and sympathy.
As at date, some statements by Governor Abba Kabiru Yusuf about the immediate past government are being contested. Where the former governor Abdullahi Ganduje did not step out to dispute his narratives, those directly affected by his action or presentation questioned Yusuf’s claims.
The actual status of Hasiya Bayero Paediatric Hospital, Kano, ranked first. Government said revoked the sale of the health facility, reverting to Specialist Hospital to cater for the medical needs of children.
The Chief Press Secretary, Sanusi Bature, said the governor expressed displeasure that Ganduje’s administration sold the facility to members of its cabals for their selfish interests: “We will not relent in reclaiming public properties either mismanaged or sold via shoddy deal.”
Ganduje administration shot back. It said Yusuf misinformed the public about the purported sale of “the building housing the relocated Hasiya Bayero Paediatric Hospital in the city”
Mohammed Garba, Ganduje’s spokesman, in a statement said the hospital services at the facility were temporarily suspended following its relocation to the Khalifa Sheikh Isyaka Rabiu Paediatric Hospital:
“The new paediatric hospital, which has more bed spaces, was now providing better quality services to the public, in addition to serving as training and research centre for the people.
“The governor lied. From available records, the facility was not sold to any individual or organisation and had remained the property of the state government. The facility was to be converted to a malnutrition treatment centre that would serve as referral centre for treatment of malnutrition.”
Another flash is the foreign post-graduate scholarship programme. In the past eight years, it fell on the Ganduje administration to point out the alleged sleaze in scholarship programme of the Kwankwaso administration between 2015 and 2019.
Government claimed the last foreign scholarship programme was offered in 2015 by Kwankwaso. It asserted that the Ganduje administration did nothing in that regard for eight years. Secretary to the State Government insisted that Kwankwaso sponsored the third and final batches of 503 first class graduates to 14 different countries.
But Garba stoutly contested that. He said Ganduje committed over N20 billion to sponsor foreign postgraduate programme for 111,687 indigent students: “The beneficiaries were sponsored to 14 countries, others to five private universities, the Nigerian Law School and other internal universities.
“Their sponsorship covered tuition fees, upkeep, accommodation and air ticket among others. They were sponsored to India, Malaysia, Egypt, Cyprus, China, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, Togo, Ireland, Gambia, Ukraine as well as Nigerian universities.
“It is unfortunate that this government is laying claims to the success of the foreign and local scholarship, while it left a burden of about $28 million and over N6 billion respectively, which we settled more than 80 per cent of the sum.”
Yet another controversy broke out over the proprietors of the land situated around Kano Polytechnic area. Government affirmed irregularities in the allocation and linked Ganduje’s family members as beneficiaries. It threatened to publish the names of the actual beneficiaries.
Salanta Quarters Community Leader, Bayero University Road, Alhaji Ayuba Sani, said: “Most of the owners of the land reside inside the community. They all have their certificates of occupancy and building permits from the Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority.
“We’ve occupied the land since time immemorial when the place was not habitable. We bought it from the allottees who were allocated the land by the governor directly. We know ourselves. If the governor wants to see us, we are ready to see him and prove our case.”
On Daula Hotel, government asserted that the property was sold to the cabals or persons linked to the Ganduje government. But Lampash, the redeveloper of the hotel, said none of this: “The state only contributed land as its equity in the multi-million PPP venture.”
Usman Maikaba, a resident of the state, told Daily Sun: “In the light of these pieces of information and misinformation, it is hard for any genuine and informed observer to make a fair judgment of what is happening. Sometimes, you think you have the whole fact and then the other party brings his own fact and you end up being confused. It is really hard to pass a judgment or who is right and who is wrong in this avoidable confrontation.
“We expect much more accurate information from these politicians.
Half-truths have a way of affecting the fabrics of the society. The only way to get it right is to be double sure before going to the public to make a claim.”
A source who, sought anonymity insisted: “What is playing out is the failure of the both governments to have an effective transition arrangement. These facts were supposed to have been reconciled at the level of the transition committee involving members of the two governments
“It is at that level that the new governor is armed with all he needs to know about his predecessor through the feedback he gets from the outgoing government. But it is unfortunate that they never really had a transition committee due to the bad blood.”