Dr. Hafsat Ganduje, the wife of Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over a land fraud and bribery case brought forward by her son Abdulazeez. Hafsat was arrested on Monday evening and was still at EFCC headquarters as of 6 am on Tuesday. Hafsat was invited by the EFCC following reporting of the case but she declined to honour the invitation which necessitated the arrest. She was said to have traveled to the UK at the time to attend the graduation ceremony of her son. Abdulazeez was said to have reported his mother to the commission for corruptly using family power and status for personal enrichment. According to the report, Abdulazeez in his petition had mentioned that he was approached by a property developer to help facilitate the acquisition of some plots of land in Kano with some hundreds of thousands of US dollars and at least 35 million Naira as “facilitation commission.”
He was said to have paid the money to his mother.
A source who is familiar with the case was quoted to have said “But three months later, the property developer discovered that the plot of land he wanted and had paid for had been allocated to other buyers. He then requested to be refunded.”