The new governor of Kano state, Abba Kabir Yusuf (popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida), has ordered security agencies in the state to immediately take over all public properties sold by the government of his predecessor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
This is one of at least four executive orders the governor issued during his inaugural speech on Monday, which he said should take immediate effect.
“I am announcing today that all these public places and assets that were immorally plundered and sold by the Ganduje administration should be taken over by law enforcement agencies, led by the Police, the DSS, Civil Defense, and Hisbah, pending the final decision of the government,” he said.
Some of the properties the governor was referring to include “lands in and around schools, religious and cultural sites, hospitals and clinics, graveyards and green areas, and along the city wall of Kano”, as well as other landed properties and assets belonging to Kano State within and outside the state to their cronies and agents.”
He announced that a Judicial Commission of Inquiry would be appointed in the coming days “to ensure that all perpetrators and those who aided and abetted them are brought to justice.”
The governor also ordered that “all political appointees heading government MDAs and companies are hereby relieved of their appointment with immediate effect.”
“Similarly, all boards of MDAs, companies, and institutions of higher learning are hereby dissolved with immediate effect,” he added.
He said all the actions he would be taking in the next few days were targeted towards resetting the state and repositioning it on the path of honor and dignity, respect, and responsibility, as well as on the path of progress and prosperity.
Similarly, the governor announced the immediate setting up of a Taskforce on Refuse Disposal, Evacuation of Drainages, and Street Cleaning (Operation Nazafa), comprising yet-to-be-unveiled different stakeholder groups.
“In the coming days, I will officially launch a state-wide campaign with self-help groups to drive the operation.
“In the next few weeks, all the dumps will be cleared, all our streets will be clean, all our drainages will be desilted, and a sustainable system of maintaining the cleanliness and clearing the dumps will be in place,” he said.
To drive the campaign to keep Kano clean, he announced that from June 1, all vehicles plying the roads of the state must have a dustbin in them, and all businesses, including shops and stalls, should also have a dustbin for collecting and proper disposal of waste and refuse.
Daily Trust