Ganduje Moves To Create Security Outfit, Rehire 12,000 Sacked Hisbah Staff

Former Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, has unveiled plans to establish a new security outfit by rehiring 12,000 personnel dismissed by the Kano State Hisbah Board under the current administration in the state.

He said the security outfit would be a Hisbah-like voluntary security body under his foundation, the Ganduje Foundation.

This is coming as the political temperature continues to rise in the state over the power struggle between his political camp in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the administration of Abba Yusuf under the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

Ganduje, who is the immediate past governor of the state, emerged as APC National Chairman, putting him in a fierce political battle with his predecessor and political godfather, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, whose influence led to the emergence of Yusuf as governor.

There has been no love lost between the Kwankwaso camp and his, with the formation of the security outfit appearing to be a direct rebuke and challenge to the current governor.

Ganduje, however, downplayed the creation of the outfit, saying it is to absorb those the state government has sacked.

The former governor gave a nod for the formation of the outfit while receiving a report on the disengaged staff, describing their dismissal as unjust.

The report was presented by the Director-General of the National Productivity Centre, Dr. Baffa Babba Dan-Agundi, who chaired the committee set up to verify the affected personnel.

Dan-Agundi, who served as Director-General of the Kano Roads and Traffic Agency (KAROTA) during Ganduje’s tenure, said the committee had verified the identities and contacts of the dismissed workers.

“Your Excellency, this is a draft report of the 12,000 Hisbah personnel dismissed by the Kano State Government. We have verified them with their contacts. All of them are with you in this journey,” Dan-Agundi said.

Responding, Ganduje said the proposed body would operate independently without being a government agency.

“It will be known as Independent Hisbah. I know there are many others who will want to join aside from this 12,000.

“You’ll soon be given another mandate of getting more people to join,” he said.

The event was attended by Ganduje’s former deputy and APC governorship candidate in the 2023 elections, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna; his running mate, Murtala Sule Garo; Kano APC Chairman, Abdullahi Abbas; and the Managing Director of the Hadejia Jama’are River Basin Development Authority (HJRBDA), Rabiu Sulaiman Bichi, among others.

The proposed outfit is expected to be headed by Ganduje’s former Hisbah Commander-General, Sheikh Muhammad Harun Ibn Sina.

Ibn Sina explained that the body, to be known as Khairun Nas, would function as a voluntary organisation with similar roles to Hisbah but without being a parallel government agency.

“The 12,000 officers engaged during his tenure and dismissed by this government complained to him. He said an independent body could be established, but not an agency, as that one only government could do.

“So he set up a committee co-chaired by Dan-Agundi and me, alongside four others, to verify the people and their willingness to join,” Ibn Sina said.

He added that the body had not yet been formally established, stressing that it would be open to all interested individuals beyond the dismissed personnel.

Ibn Sina explained that the outfit would be purely voluntary, but support from individuals or organisations could provide stipends when asked whether the personnel would be paid allowances.

He noted that the mandate of the proposed body would include “enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, providing first aid, admonition, and assistance to people.”