FORMER Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has alleged that President Bola Tinubu’s administration ‘selectively’ paid the Kaduna State government, headed by Governor Uba Sani, over N150 billion.
El-Rufai’s claim followed Sani’s recent swipe at opposition politicians seeking to unseat Tinubu in 2027.
Reacting to rumours that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, El-Rufai and other prominent politicians were planning to form a coalition to dislodge Tinubu in 2027, Sani challenged the coalition to test its popularity against the president when he featured on a TVC programme on Monday, February 3.
He described the group members as power-hungry people who failed to deliver while in government.
Responding, Sani’s predecessor, El-Rufai in a post on X, dismissed the governor’s remarks and called him a sycophant.
He alleged that his loyalty to Tinubu was due to the N150 billion the Federal Government paid as reimbursements and grants to the Kaduna State Government in the past 18 months.
“The Federal Government ‘reimbursements, interventions, and grants’ in excess of N150 billion have been given selectively to Kaduna by Tinubu now explains everything,” El-Rufai tweeted.
He added that the Kaduna people would pass their judgment in the next election.
Efforts to verify el-Rufai’s claim that the Tinubu’s government selectively paid the Kaduna State Government over N150 billion were unsuccessful, as the governor’s chief press secretary, Ibraheem Musa, failed to answer calls or respond to text and Whatsapp messages sent to his line.
The crisis between El-Rufai and Sani has deteriorated over the past months.
The ICIR reported that months after he had extolled his predecessor, Sani came hard on the El-Rufai administration, blaming it for the state’s debt and his government’s inability to pay salaries.
In his inaugural address to the state on May 29, 2023, Sani extolled El-Rufai, describing him as a leader who left a legacy of transformational leadership in the state. He went on to rename a 15 – 15-kilometre road after the former governor.
In 2020, while he served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Sani spoke in favour of a $350 million loan, sought by the El-Rufai government.
He went further to assume responsibility for what he considered the unlikely possibility that El-Rufai would fail in the utilisation of the loan.
However, less than a year into his tenure, Sani announced that his government was unable to pay workers’ salaries and blamed the development on the debts he inherited from the previous administration.
The declaration sparked reactions from Nigerians, especially on social media. Some accused Sani of being incapable and dug up old reports where he declared support for El-Rufai’s government, including assuming responsibility for El-Rufai’s failure to use the loan he took.
The crisis festered when the state government accused El-Rufai’s administration of mismanaging N432 billion, resulting in much debt for the state.
Following the allegation, the Kaduna State House of Assembly recommended that the former governor be prosecuted over allegations of money laundering and abuse of office.
This occurred on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, after an ad-hoc committee set up to investigate the allegations submitted its report.
The committee was led by its chairman Henry Zacharia. Its findings revealed that several loans obtained by the Kaduna government under El-Rufai’s administration were not used for intended purposes.
The committee also reported that due process was not followed in securing some of the loans and in awarding certain contracts. Some of El-Rufai’s cabinet members were also indicted in the report.
Reacting, El-Rufai sued the state House of Assembly for accusing him of money laundering and abuse of office.
The suit was filed by his lawyer, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, a senior advocate.
El-Rufai, in the lawsuit, demanded, among others, that the court declare the Assembly probe report void because he was not given a fair chance to address the accusations.
Also recently, El-Rufai has been at the forefront of criticising Tinubu’s administration, which he helped to form. He fell out with the All Progressives Congress (APC) government after his ministerial appointment failed to sail through.
Speaking at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Abuja on Monday, January 27, El-Rufai called on opposition parties to form a united platform to challenge the ruling party and ‘save’ the nation’s democracy.
“We know what it is, and we don’t want a military rule, but we also don’t want civilians behaving like the military in their ‘babarriga‘ and suits. So, this is a national emergency,” he warned.
He further claimed that there was a deliberate effort to destroy major opposition parties like the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP).
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance