Former Kano state Governor and Minister of Defence, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso has disputed media reports over his alleged involvement in contract scandal of over N35bn in Defence Ministry.
He described the reports as unsubstantiated political mischief meant to malign his image, arguing that the said scandal took place two years after his resignation as Minister.
Senator Kwankwaso who spoke via his Principal Private Secretary, Muhammad Inuwa Ali said he has resigned as minister in 2006, while the alleged contract was awarded in 2008.
Kwankwaso, has exonerated himself and his aides from alleged involvement in contract scam while he was Nigeria’s minister of defence.
Newspapers reports on Monday, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has launched investigations into contract deals in ministry of Defence in 2008, involving the former minister and his then personal aide who was the PDP candidate in 2019 Governorship election in Kano state, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf.
Kwankwaso said: “The allegation that Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso and his aides Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (the current Governor of Kano State, who was a special assistant of Sen. Kwankwaso at the Ministry of Defense) and Abba Yusuf [who was the personal assistant to Sen Kwankwaso at the same ministry]are being investigated for fraudulent contract awards in the Federal Ministry of Defense is both mischievous and untrue.
“One of the media outlets even alleged that Abba Yusuf and Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje have collected 30 million and 50 million naira respectively. This is also untrue.
“We wish to put the record straight and draw the attention of the general public that during the said period which the alleged fraudulent contracts took place i.e. 2007; Sen. Kwankwaso was not the Minister of Defense. He resigned from that position in November 2006 to free himself to contest for the governorship ticket of the PDP in Kano State.
“In fact, the only position he was holding at that time was representing the Northwest region on the Board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). A position he voluntarily resigned from in 2010 because of his disagreement with the obvious corrupt practices in the way the commission was being administered.
“During the same period, Dr. Ganduje was in Ndjamena as Executive Secretary, Lake Chad Basin Commission. Therefore, there was no way either Sen. Kwankwaso or any of his aides at that material time could have been involved in the alleged defense contract scam,” the former minister added.
Kwankwaso served as minister of Defence between 2003 and 2006 under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.