The Chairman of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, Muhuyi Magaji, has been arrested by the Nigerian police from the Inspector General of Police (IGP) office.
The arrest effected on Friday is connected to the seizure of property allegedly linked to Abdullahi Ganduje, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Muhuyi Magaji is currently being detained at Zone One police headquarters in Kano while his relatives and lawyer are being denied access to him.
A source privy to the situation also confirmed to Reporter that the IGP has ordered that Magaji should be transferred immediately to Abuja at the Force Headquarters.
“He is at the Zone 1 in Kano but the police are making all the necessary arragement to move to Abuja,” the source said.
Sources at the Kano Anti-corruption Commission also told SolaceBase that operatives of the IGP monitoring unit that arrested Magaji were led by one ASP Ahmed Bello.
The sources said the bone of contention has to do with the trial of the former Managing Director, Kano Agricultural Supply Company Limited, (KASCO) Bala Muhammed Inuwa, who is standing trial over the alleged diversion of public funds to the tune of over N4 billion.
The trial that commenced in November 2023 at the Kano High Court is presided over by Justice Hafsat Yahaya, who ordered the seizure of property linked to the matter including money in banks pending the determination of the suit.
In 2024, the former Managing Director, Bala Muhammed Inuwa, filed a suit before another Kano High Court before Justice Aisha Ya’u who granted an order mandating the removal of police officers stationed at Limestone Processing Links Ltd., where the confiscated properties were kept.
The commission appealed this verdict, claiming that Bala was expected to have made them a party to the petition filed to acquire the order. As a result, the commission promptly filed a stay of execution on the order requesting to be joined in the complaint, claiming that the police are only safeguarding the commission’s property and that the commission, not the police, should be a party to the suit.
Addressing journalists two weeks ago, shortly after preventing the move to take over the property worth over N2 billion, which includes trucks, minivans, and others, the commission chairman, Muhuyi Rimingado, stated that KAROTA personnel were directed to move the items to a state government warehouse in Nasarawa GRA from Kumbotso local government area under section 40 of the anticorruption law, which empowers the commission to act while the matter is in court.
According to commission sources, when the commission officials and Bala Muhammad Inuwa were invited to the Kano Police headquarters, the former managing director allegedly claimed that the items belonged to former governor Abdullahi Ganduje and could not be taken away from him.
The Nigerian police could not be reached for comment. Force Police Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi and Kano State Command spokesman, SP Abdullahi Haruna did not answer repeated calls to their mobile phones on Friday evening. They have not also replied to text messages seeking their reactions.
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