By Nasir Isa
Politicians within the ruling All Progressive Party (APC) in Kano State are mounting pressure on Kano State Anticorruption and Public Complaint Commission to sweep under the carpet an alleged case of corruption against the former Director General of Kano State Metropolitan Agency and party’s candidate for Chairmanship in Ungogo local council election, Engr. Abdullahi Garba Ramat.
Sahelian Times has gathered that the powerful politicians have prevailed on the government to compel the commission to drop the idea of arraigning Ramat in court.
The commission had unearthed indicting evidences, which revealed how Engr. Ramat as the former DG of Metropolitan Services, an agency charged with maintaining streetlights, allegedly misappropriated funds to the tune of N150 millions.
After concluding the investigation, the commission made arrangements to arraign Engr. Ramat before a court on Monday 7th December 2020, but the plan failed as a result of mounting pressure to drop the case for political consideration.
The case of misappropriation was said to have been exposed when Engr. Ramat first filed a complaint against the Director of Administration and General Services (DAGS) of the Metropolitan Agency for unlawful change of bank signatories of the organization.
The commission invited the DAGS for questioning, but it turned out that the investigation unearthed incriminating documents proving it was Ramat that allegedly misappropriated millions of naira belonging to the agency.
In the documents sighted by Sahelian Times, Engr. Ramat used two private companies he owned to divert funds meant for maintenance of streetlights.
The two companies involved are Luxey veejay and AIA computers, and a search with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) revealed that one of the firms, AIA computers is not registered with the CAC, while Luxey veejay is a makeup shop located at Zoo road, Kano.
Ramat was said to have allegedly used these companies as conduits for diverting public funds.
“The hands of the Commission are tight. Despite the evidence, they can’t prosecute Ramat because he is a godson of a powerful commissioner who has the ears of Gov. Ganduje. Muhiyi Magaji can only go-ahead to prosecute the case if he gets a clearance from the government house,” a source told Sahelian Times.
An independent investigation by Sahelian Times revealed that more than 70 percent of the streetlights in Kano are not working, despite huge amount expanded by the Metropolitan Agency on their maintenance
