Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has falsely insisted that his infamous bribe videos were cloned to deface his public image, saying he had launched investigation that will expose those behind their publication for onward punishment.

Daily Nigerian had in 2018 published a series of videos exposing Mr Ganduje collecting kickbacks from public works contractors in Kano State, triggering public criticism and calls for further investigations into the exposé.

For his role in the scandalous scenes, Mr Ganduje has since been dubbed ‘Gandollar’, a social media jibe coined from meshing of his last name and dollar. Nigerians have also continued to mock the Kano governor, while demanding for his probe by anti-corruption agencies. But the governor denied the allegations at the time, and he has constitutional immunity from criminal prosecution.

“We will deal with those behind the fake videos aimed at tarnishing my image,” Mr Ganduje told BBC Hausa on Friday. “No doubt the video is fake and we are on an underground plans and investigation which we will not reveal. But I assure you the video is fake and those behind it will be put to shame”.

“It is a lie and nothing of that nature ever happened. It was just a set up plan to stop me from contesting election and I have contested, they wanted to stop me from winning election and I have won. But that is not the big issue, the big one is we will deal with them,” Mr Ganduje said.

“Even your picture can be tampered with to show you doing something with your hand or head and you know it’s possible. People always tend to believe falsehood,” he added.

Mr Ganduje, a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ruling APC, was also defended by the president, who falsely said at the time that he was suspicious of the ‘technology’ used in producing the footage.