N50M GIFT' TEARS KWANKWASO, GOV-ELECT APART

The smooth relationship between Rabiu Kwankwaso, outgoing Governor of Kano State, and Abdullahi Ganduje, his deputy of eight years, who is also the incoming governor of the state, has been threatened by Ganduje's rejection of a parting gift of N50 million from the governor.

Both men steered the ship of the state between 1999 and 2003 and were re-elected in 2011, and Ganduje is the only deputy governor that got the endorsement to succeed his boss in office.

A source said that unlike Ganduje, other aides of Kwankwaso, who were also offered cash gifts, accepted them.

He said the governor paid himself 100 million, while his commissioners allegedly received N5 million each. Kwankwaso's special advisers were not left out of the largesse, as each of them were said to have collected N2.5 million. Other aides of the governor were allotted houses and plots of land at Kwankwasiyya City, Amana City and Bandirawo.

Several attempt to get the governor-elect proved abortive.

Meanwhile, it was alleged that hundreds of contractors of the state are complaining of bankruptcy, while some indigenes of Kano, who are on scholarship at various higher Institutions have not received bursary payments for three consecutive years.