The Adhoc Committee of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, tasked with scrutinizing the financial activities of former Governor Nasir el-Rufai, is poised to unveil its investigative report this week.
This investigation was initiated following a revelation by the current Governor, Senator Uba Sani, on March 31st. He disclosed that his administration had inherited a substantial debt, leaving insufficient funds to cover workers’ salaries.
During a town hall meeting at the late Umaru Yar’Adua Hall in Kaduna, the governor unveiled that his administration had inherited contract liabilities amounting to $587 million, N85 billion, and N115 billion from the previous governor.
On April 16, two weeks later, the state House of Assembly decided to form an ad-hoc committee. The committee’s mandate was to “investigate loans, financial transactions, contractual liabilities and other related matters of the Kaduna state Government from May 29, 2015, to May 29, 2023.”
Henry Danjuma, the committee’s chairman, stated that the ad hoc committee’s role was to “identify any misdemeanours.”
The All-Progressives Congress state chapter supported the decision to investigate El-Rufai, considering it a step in the right direction.
The committee subsequently summoned and questioned several of ex-Governor El-Rufai’s former aides.
Among those questioned were Thomas Gyang, former Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure; Ja’afaru Sani, former education commissioner; Dr Manzo Maigari, former agric commissioner; Balarabe Aliyu, Administrator of Zaria Metropolitan Authority; Phoebe Yayisukai, Administrator of Kafanchan Metropolitan Authority; and Lawal Magaji, former Managing Director of Kaduna State Roads Agency.
A committee insider confided to THE WHISTLER on Tuesday that the report would be made public before the week’s end.
“Just wait for the report, it will be released this week,” the lawmaker replied when asked about the committee’s findings.
When pressed for a preview of the report, the lawmaker chose not to pre-empt the report.
However, former Kaduna Central senator, Shehu Sani, who had called for the ex-governor’s probe, anticipates that El-Rufai will be implicated in the report.
Three days after Governor Sani disclosed the state’s debt, Senator Sani posted an advisory on X (formerly Twitter), stating:
“The looting of Kaduna State cannot be remedied by revelations alone but by courageously constituting a probe panel headed by an independent professional accountant or auditor who will invite;
“…and investigate ex-government officials and their proxy contractors to account for the millions in dollars and billions in Naira that were misused or outrightly stolen, including the $350 million loan.
“Kaduna State is at its hour of reckoning with the truth I foretold and the truth for which I was vilified.”
The citizens of Kaduna State will soon learn how El-Rufai managed the state’s funds during his eight-year tenure as governor.
