Kaduna Assembly sets up panel to probe El-Rufai’s govt

The Kaduna State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, set up a 13-man committee to investigate how former Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s administration spent the $350 million loan obtained from the World Bank.

The committee will also look at other expenditures and projects initiated by the government from 2015 to 2023.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by the lawmaker representing the Kauru constituency, Mugu Yusuf.

Yusuf had, in his presentation, asked the House to investigate all the loans obtained by the El-Rufai administration.

The Speaker of the Assembly, Yusuf Liman, thereafter, inaugurated the committee to look into the issues.

He charged the committee to undertake a thorough job in the interest of the state.

The speaker said: “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.”

Governor Uba Sani, on March 30, said he inherited a huge debt burden of $587 million and N85 billion from the El-Rufai administration.

Sani, who spoke at a Town Hall Meeting in Kaduna, lamented that the last administration left behind 115 contractual liabilities on May 29 last year.