Rabiu Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State, has denied reports that he told Kabir Yusuf, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Kano State governorship election, that the PDP administration, if elected, will not be able to pay N30, 000 minimum wage to workers as it expects to inherit an empty treasury from Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
Responding via a statement from Binta Spikin, his media aide, Kwankwaso said he would never be part of a plot to underpay workers or retrench them.
“To the dismay of all well-meaning Nigerians, particularly those of us from Kano, recent unfolding happenings are disturbing and will not augur well for the development of our dear state. What is more baffling is the extent some people want to go, all in the name of politicking, which should not have been. Ordinarily, elections should have been over. However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Kano state result inconclusive,” read the statement.
“As a law-abiding citizen, Sen Rabiu Kwankwaso along with all his followers are patiently awaiting the 23rd of March when the rerun election would take place, and when we will confidently emerge victorious.
“The people of Kano have spoken, and they will at all times stand on the side of Sen Kwankwaso because of his people-oriented policies and programmes that have added value to the quality of lives in Kano and beyond.
“Hence, it is disheartening that some media outlets carry reports with distorted information attributing it to Sen Rabiu Kwankwaso. These include a sponsored write-up… that says Sen Kwankwaso will retrench workers if Engineer Abba Kabir Yusif is elected governor and a badly written piece… insinuating that Sen Kwankwaso has instructed Engineer Abba Kabir Yusuf not to pay the N30,000 minimum wage if elected.
“On this note, we wish to call on the general public to disregard these concocted lies written solely to blackmail the person of Sen Kwankwaso who is not the gubernatorial candidate. These concocted stories are deliberate and mischievous machinations intended to deflect our minds as we await the rerun election to take back our mandate and set Kano along the track of developmental progress.
“We wish to draw the attention of the public to the fact that Sen Kwankwaso has never been and will never be an advocate of retrenchment, neither will Engineer Abba Kabir Yusuf. The people of Kano can testify to the doggedness of Senator Kwankwaso when it comes to issues pertaining the well-being of Kano people, civil servants or not, in or out of government and that will never change.
“Therefore, our attention should now be focused on seeing that the rerun election is free and fair. Against this background, we urge the general public to disregard the concocted false information as it has no basis.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will conduct a supplementary election on March 23 to determine the next Kano Governor.
At the time INEC declared the election inconclusive, PDP’s Yusuf had polled 1,014,474 votes while APC’s Ganduje had 987,819.
However, the margin of 26,655 votes between the two top candidates meant it was impossible for INEC to declare a winner.” (SaharaReporters)
