Ganduje: 1,000 Civil Society Groups Commend IGP Egbetokun for withdrawing police attached to Kano agency

*say Kano is a bad example of how governors will misuse State Police in Nigeria.

*condemns use of state resources to persecute perceived enemies in Kano State.

A coalition of 1,000 Civil Society Organisations in the country, under the auspices of the Transparency Watch Initiative, has lauded the Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun for withdrawing policemen who were assigned to the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission.

The coalition has praised the move as timely and necessary, citing concerns that the activities of officers attached to the anti-graft agency need to be investigated. They also noted that the commission has been reduced to a tool to target political enemies in the state, making the withdrawal of police officers an important step towards addressing these issues.

At a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, Dr. Kolawole Anthony, the President of the coalition, stated that Kano State is a bad example of how governors may misuse State Police in Nigeria if created.

He berated Governor Abba Yusuf’s administration for using state resources to persecute perceived enemies in Kano State while neglecting governance that the resources are primarily meant for.

He urged Governor Yusuf to stop wasting Kano taxpayers’ money on probing his predecessor and the current National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, stressing that the state judiciary lacks the locus standi to prosecute the APC National Chairman, as ruled by a court of law.

Dr Kolawole said, “Transparency Watch Initiative, a coalition of 1,000 reputable Civil Society Organisations based in the country, wishes to commend the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun for withdrawing about 40 policemen attached to the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission. This move was timely and necessary given that the anti-graft agency has now been reduced to a tool for witch-hunting perceived political enemies. It is against sensibility that the Nigeria Police, who are the custodians of law and order in the country, would allow themselves to be dragged into the Governor’s witch-hunt game.

“We also agree with the IGP’s recent statement that Nigeria is not yet ready for State Police. The current happenings in Kano State, where the Governor is using all the security infrastructures in the state to fight his political enemies, is a bad example of how governors will misuse State Police in Nigeria if it is created. Some governors won’t hesitate to use the opportunity to give legal backing to their political thugs by recruiting most of them into the State Police services. Police brutality, extortion, electoral malpractices and general corruption would skyrocket as the State Police officers would be nothing but willing tools in the hands of the governors. The Nigeria Police are relentlessly tackling the issue of insecurity and other crimes as well as maintaining law and order. Ulterior motives could be the only reason for the agitations for State Police.

“It is regrettably lugubrious, that Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf has neglected his primary duty of providing good governance to the people of Kano, and has instead pursued a political vendetta. Yusuf’s witch-hunt game against Ganduje is not only an unfortunate and sorry attempt to divert attention from his poor performance in the state despite huge allocations he has been receiving since the inception of President Bola Tinubu’s administration but also a display of crass ignorance and disregard for the rule of law. There’s a judicial pronouncement on it that the state cannot prosecute Ganduje. It’s the responsibility of the Federal High Court and that falls within the purview of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

“If Governor Yusuf truly want accountability for Kano people as he claimed, we expect that whatever that is not yet before the EFCC and the ICPC, should have been packaged by the government of Kano state and aided these agencies with those information so that they can be able to fastrack their investigation and be able to bring justice for the people of Kano instead of wasting scare resources to set up a judicial panel of enquiry for a report that might end up also going to the EFCC or ICPC. The resources the Governor is wasting on his pointless fights against political enemies can execute meaningful projects that would better the lives of the masses.

“We, therefore, urge Governor Abba Yusuf to retrace his steps and start carrying out his duties instead of chasing shadows with his pointless fights against perceived political enemies. Kano State is not his personal property, hence, he should desit from looting from the state’s treasury to fight shadows and enrich his collaborators.”

“Finally, we urge the Nigeria Police not to succumb to any blackmail or propaganda from Governor Yusuf and his collaborators to reattach policemen to the corrupt Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission until the anti-graft agency is purge of corruption.”