Ganduje again promises Buhari 5 million votes in Kano in 2019

Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has again promised President Muhammadu Buhari that he’ll get at least 5 million votes from the state in the 2019 presidential election.

The governor had first made this promise in Febraury 2018 and restated his commitment towards making it happen at a rally in Kano on Sunday, November 25, 2018.

The governor said the state is progressive and will only vote for a progressive government that’ll help the Nigerian people.

He said, “APC is the only party in Kano. We have the highest number of party members. Our effort is not only to win Governorship, Presidential, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections, our intention is to provide the highest number of votes for APC in Nigeria.

“If you remember, we promised Mr President a minimum of five million votes. Kano is the home of the progressives. What do you expect from Kano apart from progressive government, administration and voting?

“That is why we are all united to give Mr President over five million votes from Kano State.”

During another rally days prior, the governor had boasted that Kano is ‘the home of Buhari’ where his ‘political umbilical cord’ resides.

“Kano State is the first state that you can confirm that, come 2019, the election will be won. We’re not only fighting to win the election, we’re fighting to get a minimum of five million votes for Buhari,” he said.

play Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje

Buhari had won 1,903,999 votes in Kano, his highest in any state, during the 2015 presidential election and is believed to enjoy massive support in the state.

During the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to elect the party’s 2019 presidential candidate in November, Buhari won 2,931,235 votes in the direct election.

Ganduje’s bribery scandal

Ganduje’s promise to deliver Kano to Buhari next year comes under a clowd of doubts over his continued leadership of the state as he’s currently caught in a bribery scandal.

The governor has been in the news over the past few weeks after the publisher of Daily Nigerian, Ja’afar Ja’afar, alleged that he regularly received bribes from contractors handling projects in the state.

In a series of videos in Ja’afar’s possession, the governor was alleged to have received a total of $5 million in installments from a certain contractor on several occasions. Six different video clips have gone viral on social media showing the governor accepting bundles of dollar notes from the yet-to-be-identified contractor.

The governor has maintained his innocence, claiming that the videos have been doctored by his political opponents to tarnish his reputation.

When questioned about his opinion of the scandal two weeks ago, President Buhari described Ganduje as a responsible leader who has done well for Kano.