Former Kano State governor and one-time APC national chairman Abdullahi Ganduje is accused of arranging for the Kano state government’s 20% equity in Dala Inland Dry Port Nigeria Limited to be transferred into private hands — including to his children — and then using state funds to pay for infrastructure at the port after the state had effectively been removed from the ownership structure.
How Kano cme to hold 20%
Kano purchased a 20% stake in Dala Inland Dry Port in 2006 during Ibrahim Shekarau’s administration under a federal policy that capped private investors’ stake at 60% and reserved 20% each for the federal and host state governments. The policy expected states that took equity to meet their contribution via in-kind infrastructure — roads, fencing, electricity and water — on the Zawachiki (Kumbotso LGA) site.
The port, founded in 2003 by businessman Ahmad Rabiu, was intended as a northern logistics hub and in August 2020 was designated a port of origin/final destination and a logistics free trade zone.
Delay, regulator warning and alleged equity shifts
Years of limited physical development at the site led the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to warn the concessionaire and signal possible termination. In a 30 May 2019 letter the NSC said that apart from a site office built in January 2011, “no other physical development had taken place,” and that the BOOT concession was at risk of termination.
Sources said the termination threat pressured the original investor to transfer some equity to new partners linked to the Ganduje family.
NSC appeals to Kano and subsequent state action
On 18 June 2020 the NSC wrote to the Kano State Government asking it to revive the infrastructure commitments that would support the dry port and observed that the concessionaire had “divested a substantial part of their shares to their new solid partners” — partners later identified in company records as Ganduje’s children.
Roughly three weeks after the NSC appeal, the state awarded a contract to build the port infrastructure.
Contract award and costs
On 7 July 2020 the Ganduje administration awarded FRI Construction Company Limited a N2,300,000,604.24 contract (completion: six months) to provide infrastructure at the Dala Inland Dry Port; the award letter instructed the firm to pay a tender fee of N46,000,012.08.
Sources later said the contract sum was revised upward to more than N4 billion. FRI subcontracted roadworks to Triacta Nigeria Limited and kept responsibility for fencing, power, water, warehouses, offices and storage.
Company records: Children and a proxy installed on the board
Dala Inland Dry Port Limited was incorporated on 8 December 2003 with founder Ahmad Rabiu and his son as original directors.
Minutes and resolutions show that at an AGM held on 5 March 2020 at the company’s Zaria Road office, Ganduje’s three children — Abdulaziz Abdullahi Umar, Umar Abdullahi Umar and Muhammad Abdullahi Umar — and Ganduje’s longtime associate Abubakar Bawuro were appointed as directors.
The AGM minutes state that each of the three children was allotted five million shares (20% each of the 25 million total), while Mr Rabiu and Mr Bawuro were each allotted 20% as well — creating five equal 20% shareholders and formally edging the Kano State Government out of the ownership structure.
The resolutions were filed at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Due process questions
A Kano lawyer, Ibrahim Idris, said divesting a state government’s shares normally requires approval from the State Executive Council and sometimes the State House of Assembly, plus public tendering and compliance with SEC rules. He described the statutory and procedural steps a government must follow when selling public equity — steps that, the reporting implies, were not publicly followed in this case.
Further CAC filings: Majority control consolidated under a proxy
CAC documents later showed another reshuffle: filings dated 19 October 2022 list only Abubakar Bawuro and Ahmad Rabiu as shareholders and persons with significant control — with Bawuro recorded as holding 80% and Rabiu 20%.
The board was later expanded to include Adamu Aliyu-Sanda (company secretary since 2020) and Hassan Bello (former executive secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council).
CAC records as of September 2025 list Rabiu, Bawuro, Bello and Aliyu-Sanda as directors, and Bawuro (80%) and Rabiu (20%) as the company’s shareholders.
Kano government pushes back
Since leaving office, Ganduje and his successor Governor Abba Yusuf have traded accusations. The Yusuf administration has publicly rejected the ownership changes and begun probing how an individual and a former government appointee came to control 80% of a company in which the state claims to still hold 20%.
Bashir Uba, director of investment at Kano’s Ministry of Commerce, said official records still show the state’s stake and that standard divestment procedures — newspaper adverts and open bidding among them — were not followed. He added the state is actually seeking to increase equity, not sell it.
Who is Abubakar Bawuro?
Investigations indicated that FRI Construction — the firm awarded the multi-billion-naira contract — operates from a building alleged to be owned by Bawuro in Yola. Insiders say he controls the company, though CAC filings don’t list him as an owner. He is married to the sister of Shehu Fari, a director who supervised the dry-port construction site.
Port commissioning and current operation
The Dala Inland Dry Port was commissioned by the late President Muhammadu Buhari on 30 January 2023. A site visit showed a bustling facility — but Kano State appears not to benefit as a co-owner because of the alleged share transfers and subsequent filings.
Responses not received
Ganduje, Bawuro and Ganduje’s former spokesperson Abba Anwar did not respond to repeated calls or text messages seeking comment.
