The Gubernatorial Transition Committee (GTC) of the Kano State governor-elect, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has alleged that the outgoing government of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was undermining and sabotaging the transition process.
But the state government said the allegation was unfounded because it was the GTC that refused to submit the names of its three nominees to the government’s transition committee, adding that notwithstanding, all ministries, parastatals and agencies of the government have been carrying on with their handing over process.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, the chairman of the governorelect’s GTC, Abdullahi Baffa, said government’s insistence that it must nominate three members to join the 17-member government transition committee was “tantamount to insisting that we must have a joint transition committee although we belong to separate political parties.”
He said because of the GTC’s “insistence that the right thing must be done, Governor Ganduje is doing everything possible to undermine and sabotage the transition process. He is yet to inaugurate the government team, even after announcing its formation almost four weeks ago (sadly, the government team say they cannot hold any meeting with us until they are inaugurated by the governor).”
Baffa also alleged that Ganduje has “mischievously transferred all permanent secretaries and most of the directors within the service to undermine the preparation of the hand over,” further alleging that the governor “has surreptitiously embarked on massive recruitment of workers (in his final few days) on a scale that he has not done in the last seven years and 10 months with the sole intention of over-bloating the service, undermining the incoming administration, and creating confusion.”
He said all these were a manifestation of bad faith and total lack of statesmanship in the conduct of the governor.
Reacting to all the allegations by the GTC, the Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Muhammad Garba, who is also a member of the government’s transition committee, told Daily Trust Saturday that there was no truth in what the GTC was alleging.
Garba said it was the GTC that had so far refused to nominate the three persons to join the 17-member committee, adding that the GTC was given three slots because the bulk of work of the transition period to be carried out by the outgoing government.
He also said it was not true that the committee had not been working because the governor was yet to formally inaugurate them.
