Kaduna Assembly sets up committee to investigate El-Rufai’s govt

The Kaduna State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, constituted a 13-man adhoc committee to investigate financial transactions, loans, grants and projects executed under the administration of Nasir El-Rufai, the immediate past governor of the state.

Honourable Yusuf Mugu, member representing Kaura constituency, moved the motion on matter of public importance that the loans borrowed by the El-Rufai be probed.

The speaker of the assembly, Yusuf Liman, inaugurated the 13-man committee during plenary on Tuesday.

He urged the adhoc committee to invite all the relevant stakeholders for questioning and investigation of the matters.

“There have been uncomplimentary comments and assassinations of character on the leadership of the state, which the assembly cannot sit and watch. That is why I came up with this motion that the Speaker constitute a committee to investigate the allegations and negative comments on them

“This is the only way the state can rekindle its confidence in its development partners, collaborators, and also those who give us loans and grants; failure to do this will push the indicators of the state to a situation whereby nobody will want to do business with us”, Mugu said while speaking on the motion.

Meanwhile, during the debate, the former speaker, Yusuf Zailani, during whose tenure as presiding officer of the House that the Kaduna State Government obtained the loan, denied that the ninth assembly sanctioned the loan for the executive.

“I suffered a lot in order not to give approval for the loan to be collected; even the then deputy Speaker Isaac Auta Zankhai was against me because I disagreed with the loan to be collected. I told the then-governor to look at the number of loans we had on hand, and he didn’t listen to me,” he said.

In their separate submissions, the member representing the Jaba constituency, Henry Marah, and his counterpart from the Zangon Kataf constituency, Samuel Kambai, maintained that the legislators have the responsibility and constitutional rights to give approval before the governor can go ahead to collect loans but lamented that the case of Kaduna was different.

They however, urged the committee to invite the 8th and 9th assembly speakers, along with some members of the same assembly, to come and give accounts on how the loans were collected and spent.

Liman urged the ad-hoc committee to invite the speakers of the 8th and 9th assemblies and all other relevant stakeholders and agencies for investigation.

He assured the House that the matter will be properly looked into, adding that they will give everyone the liberty to speak the truth.

The 13-man committee included Aminu Anti, representing Doka Gabasawa as the chairman; Yusuf Mugu Kaura as the deputy chairman; Munira Tanimu, Hon. Shehu Yunusa as member and nine others.

NewsBand reported that governor Uba Sani while speaking at a town hall meeting said his administration inherited a debt burden of $587 million, N85 billion, and 115 contractual liabilities from the El-Rufai administration.

He said the huge debt has left Kaduna State with a few amounts, not enough to pay the salaries of workers.

Sani said, “Despite the huge debt burden of $587 million, N85 billion, and 115 contractual liabilities sadly inherited from the previous administration, we remain resolute in steering Kaduna State towards progress and sustainable development.

“We have conducted a thorough assessment of our situation and are sharpening our focus accordingly. It gladdens my heart to inform you that despite the huge inherited debt on the state, till date, we have not borrowed a single kobo”.

The governor’s revelation did not go down well with some of the supporters of the former governor who immediately launched scathing attacks on him.