A civil society group based in Accra known as West Africa Coalition for Transparency and Human rights have spoken on the ongoing controversy in Kano State, Nigeria on the bribery scandal involving the Executive Governor of the State, Ganduje.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, the country representative of the coalition Mr. Lukman Adeyemi, the coalition described the news that the Kano State House of Assembly is yet to comply with the court order as very embarrassing.

According to the statement, the coalition described the action of the Kano State House of Assembly as a calculated attempt to ridicule an important arm of government who should naturally be their allies in any effective fight against corruption and other forms of executive recklessness and impunity.

The group said: "It is the view of the coalition that the only way to maintain integrity and public support in the probe is to suspend it pending the determination of the litigation process in a court of competent jurisdiction."

According to them, "why we support every form of oversight responsibility by the House of Assembly, it is important that the parliament does not do anything unconstitutional in the discharge of their duties. Hence they must allow the court process to be concluded."

Furthermore, the group warned the Kano State House of Assembly to avoid every action capable of making the ongoing look a political witch-hunt.

The group added that "the public has observed that there is a pre-existing relationship between the House Assembly and the so-called whistleblower Mr. Jaafar Jaafar.

"It has been observed that the proceedings of the probe have been exclusively published in the online newspaper of Mr. Jaafar making it seem that the House of Assembly ad-hoc committee is in constant touch with him."

It, however, insisted that the existence of such relationship is unhealthy and capable of ridiculing the quest for transparency and accountability in the conduct of government affairs, adding that such investigation must be conducted in a non-partisan manner in order to inspire public confidence.

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