The Permanent Secretary of the Kano Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Kabawa, alongside Garba Kwankwaso, nephew to the influential NNPP National Leader, Sen. Rabi’u Kwankwaso, and three others have have been arrested over their alleged involvement in a multi-billion naira drug supply scam.
Their arrest was announced by the State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission on Tuesday.
Among the arrested is Alhaji Abdullahi Bashir, the chairman of the state branch of the Association for Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), who also heads the Tauroni Local Government Area (LGA).
Garba Kwankwaso, the Managing Director of Novomed Pharmaceuticals, stands at the center of this nefarious plot, allegedly colluding with others to execute the drug supply scam.
The suspects are accused of conspiring to award a lucrative contract to Novomed, enabling the company to provide essential drugs to 38 local government areas across the state, all while sharply violating stringent public procurement laws.
Preliminary investigations have unveiled a startling truth: each of the 38 LGAs disbursed N9.150 million to Novomed for drug procurement, yet the promised supplies never materialized, leaving a community grappling with the consequences of greed and deception.
“We have 44 LGAs in the state and they succeeded in collecting N9.150bn from 38 councils for supply of the drugs that were not supplied
“The findings also revealed that all the suspects are cooperating with the commission’s investigation team”, a source close to the case told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The Public Relations Officer of the commission, Kabiru Kabiru, confirmed the arrests, adding that the investigation was ongoing.
Kabiru said the commission was working to unravel the full extent of the alleged scam and bring those responsible to justice.
He also confirmed that the suspects were in the commission’s custody as at the time of filing this report.
