The management of Kano Zoological Garden is retelling the of the missing N6.82 million reported swallowed by Gorilla in a Kano Zoo stating that the money was stolen from its coffers by robbers.
Its new version comes as the state government has ordered the States anti-corruption agency to investigate the circumstances surrounding the stolen money.
“The order (by Gov. Umar Ganduje) was given on Friday and the commission has already swung into action,” a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Abba Anwar, said on Sunday in Kano.
It quoted the governor as directing the commission to look into the immediate and remote circumstances surrounding the allegation and “unearth everything surrounding the incident”.
Mallam Umar Yusif Umar, the Managing Director of the zoo said it has no Gorilla and that the money was stolen by burglars.
“I was called midnight on Sunday June 9th, by the head of security that armed robbers burgled our office including the revenue office,” Umar told Journalists.
“About 6.30 a.m., I left my home for the office and immediately I arrived I met my office and that of all the directors opened.
“Instantly I called the DPO, Sharada police station and reported the case to him. As far as I’m concerned, I suspect theft and nothing close to Gorilla.”
Umar said the money stolen was N6.90 million and not N6.82 million as widely reported.
Kano police spokesperson, DSP Abdullahi Haruna, said 10 staff of the zoo, including the accounting officer Lawan Dandadarin, have been arrested and detained.
Haruna told newsmen that the statement collected from those arrested so far has nothing to do with Gorilla.
“So far, information collected from the suspects suggests armed robbery case and that of negligence,” Haruna said.
BBC Pidgin reported on Friday that Freedom Radio, a Kano-based radio station claimed that a finance officer it spoke to said “a huge Gorilla” sneaked into their office to “swallow” the money.
But the head of current affairs Freedom Radio Nasiru Salisu said the Gorilla story did not emanate from the station.
“We challenge anybody who claimed we broke the Gorilla news to come out and prove it.
“We never reported such a story.
“Like every other person, we noticed the information on social media and a reporter was drafted to investigate the matter,” Salisu said.
Additional reports by NAN