1st April, 2023
Kano Governor-elect, Malam Abba Yusuf has said no lender, domestic or international, should grant any loan facility to the incumbent Governor Abdullahi Ganduje led State Government without his knowledge or expressed consent.
Yusuf said this in a Public Advisory to all subsisting and prospective lenders to the Kano State Government issued on Friday in an obvious continuation of the power play between him and the incumbent governor of the state.
He had also on Thursday directed a Public Advisory to all individuals, groups and organisations to stop ongoing construction in public places immediately.
But the Kano State Government had in response asserted that Gov. Ganduje will continue to exercise authority over all issues in the state until 29, May when the Governor -Elect will assume office.
“Until he subscribes to the oath of office as governor on May 29, he remains what he is – a governor-elect – and does not have the powers of the governor.
“All he can do is to reverse some of the actions taken by his predecessor when he assumes office, if there is a valid reason to do so.
“No governor-elect has the constitutional or legal powers to determine the direction of a state until he is sworn-in,” Kano Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Malam Muhammad Garba, said in the statement.
The Kano Government therefore advised Yusuf to stop issuing official pronouncements in form of public advisory in order not to cause unnecessary confusion in the state.
However, despite the caution, in a statement issued on Friday in Kano by his Chief Press Secretary Sanusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa, the Governor-elect warned that from March 18 to May 29, no lender, domestic or international, should grant any loan facility to Kano State Government without the expressed consent of the incoming administration.
“Any such loan facility approved and issued to the Kano State Government between the date of election and the date of swearing-in without the explicit knowledge and consent of the incoming administration will not be honoured by the new administration.
“All subsisting lenders to the Kano State Government shall take notice that all terms and conditions for all existing loan facilities shall be renegotiated by the new administration guided by the utilisation audit/review of each loan facility,“ the statement said.