BREAKING: Kaduna Assembly Recommends Probe Of Ex-Governor El-Rufai For Abuse Of Office, Money Laundering

The Kaduna State House of Assembly  has recommended the probe of former governor of the state, Nasir El-Rufai for abuse of office and money laundering.

This recommendation was given by the ad hoc committee set up by the House of Assembly mandating the investigation of all finances, loans and contracts awarded under Nasir El-Rufai’s government.

The chairman of the ad hoc committee, Henry Zacharia, presented the report during plenary on Wednesday, stating that the majority of the loans obtained during El-Rufai’s administration were not used for the purpose for which they were obtained, and that in some cases, due process was not followed in obtaining the loans.

Receiving the report, Yusuf Liman, Speaker of the Kaduna House of Assembly, stated that the El-Rufai administration syphoned a total of N423 billion, leaving the state with massive liabilities.

As a result, the committee recommended that El-Rufai and other indicted members of his cabinet be investigated and prosecuted by security and anti-corruption agencies for abuse of office through the award of contracts without due process, diversion of public funds, money laundering, and plunging Kaduna State into deep debt.

The committee also recommended the immediate suspension of Shizer Badda, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Finance who previously served in the same capacity under El-Rufai’s administration, as well as the chairman of the state universal basic education board. It also called for a comprehensive inquiry of some key appointees of the previous government by appropriate law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies.

The committee set up by the Kaduna State House of Assembly was tasked with the assignment of examining loans, grants and projects implementation from 2015 to 2023 during which El-Rufai served as governor of the state.

CN had earlier reported how Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani lamented the huge debt inherited from his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai, on May 29, 2023.

Sani said the state is now left with a few amounts, not enough to pay salary.

The governor made this known while addressing a Town Hall Meeting at the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Hall, Kaduna in March.

He added that his administration inherited a total of $587million, N85billion, and 115 contract liabilities from the ex-governor.

Despite this, he said he had yet to borrow money in the last nine months of his government, noting that the huge debt burden was eating deep into the state’s Federal Allocation.

The governor stressed that due to the rise in the exchange rate, he was paying back almost triple of what was borrowed by the administration of Nasir El-Rufai.