Kano Sodomy: Why Committee’s Report Is Delayed, By Garba

Two months after the inauguration of an Ad-hoc committee to investigate allegation of sexual assault involving some male students of Hassan Gwarzo Secondary School, Kano state government has confirmed the case but is awaiting security details before final decision.

The 14-man committee headed by former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri, Prof. Abubakar Mustapha, entrusted to investigate the incident and make recommendation, but the outcome of the exercise was shrouded in secrecy even after a week extension granted the committee to make its findings public.

But the Kano State Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, said the rational behind the delay of the committee’s report was because “government was not ready to rush into taking action on such sensitive issue even while awaiting security report on the issue.”

But Garba insisted that government has ordered that the school remain shut as investigation lasted, noting that the State Executive Council has paid N40m for West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) fees for 70 final year students already deployed to three private schools in the state.”

However, a non-governmental organisation, Kano State Civil Society Forum, has flayed the government’s action, insisting that it lacked moral justification to pay such outrageous amount for students especially when majority of them are from rich homes.