By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: The Dala Inland Dry Port DIDP has dismissed reports alleging that the family of former Governor of Kano State and immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress APC, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, are shareholders in the company.
In a statement on Wednesday signed by the Company Secretary, Barr. Adamu Aliyu Sanda, DIDP described the reports as “false, misleading, and politically motivated,” insisting that neither Ganduje’s family nor the Kano State Government has any stake in the port project.
“The claim that members of the Ganduje family are shareholders or directors in Dala Inland Dry Port is entirely false. Verified records from the Corporate Affairs Commission CAC and official board resolutions clearly show that no member of the Ganduje family has ever been a shareholder, director, or signatory in Dala Inland Dry Port”, said Sanda.
The company explained that the project was initially owned by businessman Ahmad Rabi’u before City Green Enterprises CGE acquired 80 per cent of the company, leaving Rabi’u with 20 per cent equity. The transaction, it stressed, was properly filed with the CAC, and at no stage did it involve the Ganduje family or the Kano State Government.
On reports alleging that Ganduje’s children were allotted five million shares each through an “ordinary resolution,” the statement said the purported document was a forgery done without the knowledge of other directors.
He said the forged document is one of several acts of mischief engineered by an aggrieved party in a desperate attempt to politicize a private commercial matter involving poor performance and financial mismanagement.
Similarly, the DIDP dismissed claims that the Kano State Government owns a 20 per cent stake in the company, clarifying that the state’s only involvement was through Corporate Social Responsibility CSR assistance at the request of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council NSC.
“The provision of infrastructure at the Zawaciki site was purely developmental support to facilitate the revival of the port project and promote economic growth in Kano. CSR assistance does not constitute shareholding or ownership,” the company stressed.
The management also refuted reports that a Kano State government official, identified as Abdullahi Haruna, represented the state’s interest on the board of the company. “Such person has never existed or been known to the company in all its dealings,” it declared.
Rejecting another claim that Ganduje’s family and the Kano government were later “removed” as shareholders, DIDP said: “You cannot remove an entity that never existed as a shareholder or director in the first place. CAC filings from inception to date confirm that neither the Ganduje family nor the Kano State Government has ever appeared in the company’s ownership or directorship structure.”
The company maintained that the circulation of the “falsehoods” was part of a coordinated attempt to tarnish Dr. Ganduje’s reputation and destabilize confidence in the project.
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