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Protesters under the aegis of Kaduna Citizens Watch for Good Governance, on Thursday, stormed the Kaduna State Government House asking Governor Uba Sani to invite security agencies to arrest and prosecute his predecessor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, following his criminal case levelled against him by the state House of Assembly.
Recall that the state Assembly in a recent investigation report accused El-Rufai and some of his appointees of N423bn theft from the state coffers.
The protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as “We will occupy all MDAs to chase out all indicted persons in the report,”
“Stop servicing all loans that did not follow due process before they were obtained,” “Jimi Lawal almost killed Kaduna State the way he killed a bank some years ago,” among others.
A report by an ad hoc committee set up by the Kaduna State House of Assembly to investigate all finances, loans and contracts awarded under El-Rufai indicted the former governor, saying most of the loans obtained between 2015 and 2023 were not used for the purpose for which they were obtained.
The committee led by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Henry Zacharia, recommended the prosecution of El-Rufai, some other indicted members of his cabinet by security and anti-corruption agencies for abuse of office and money laundering.
The probe by the state Assembly followed the lamentation by incumbent Governor Sani that El-Rufai left him a huge debt profile.
Sani said, “Despite the huge debt burden of N587m, N85bn, and N115bn 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.”
The leader of the protesters, Victor Duniya, while addressing newsmen called on the state governor to implement relevant sections of the House of Assembly ad hoc committee report on El-Rufai and others indicted that fell under his purview.
He also called on the governor to officially forward the findings of the House Committee report to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other relevant agencies for them to commence the process of recovering the N423bn allegedly misappropriated by the immediate-past governor and others indicted.
