The chairman of the Kano Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC), Muhyi Rimingado, has been forbidden from being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by a Kano high court.
The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) were also prohibited.
The news occurs just days after the EFCC, ICPC, and CCB invited the PCACC and its representatives to respond to inquiries about the commission’s operations from 2011 to the present.
The federal government was brought before the court by the Kano state government for what it claimed to be harassment and intimidation of the PCACC by three federal agencies.
According to NAN, the sitting judge, Farouk Adamu, instructed the federal agencies and their officers to stop interviewing or looking into PCACC employees in an ex parte order.
The agencies were also told by the court to stop interfering with the operations of the anti-graft organization.
All parties to the case were further urged to maintain the status quo by the order with suit number N0 K/M1128/2023.
“Upon reading motion ex parte, together with accompanying affidavit duly sworn to by one Khalifa Auwal Hashim on 28th August, 2023,” the order reads.
“And after hearing Mr. H. I. Dederi Esq (Attorney General of Kano State) of Counsel for the Applicant, it is hereby ordered that all parties to maintain status quo ante-bellum.
“Order is hereby included by way of Interim Injunction restraining the defendants/respondents from meddling or delving into the affairs or taking any step on, related to or in connection with the functions, duties and affairs of the plaintiffs/applicants.”
Speaking after the court order, Rimingado said no amount of blackmail, intimidation and smear campaign would deter the commission from performing its lawful duties.
“The recent intimidations and smear campaigns against the commission are the handiwork of people with skeletons in their cupboards,” NAN quoted Rimingado as saying.
“We will not cut corners and we will strictly adhere to the rule of law. We are committed to ridding the state of corrupt public officers.”
Abdullahi Ganduje, the immediately preceding governor of Kano, fired Rimingado in 2022 over claims of abuse of power.
However, on June 21, Abba Yusuf, the current governor of Kano, gave his approval for Rimingado to resume his position as PCACC chair.
A video appears to show Ganduje, the current national chair of the All Progressives Congress (APC), taking cash bribes from a contractor in 2017. Rimingado has committed to look into this.
