Former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has taken the Kaduna State House of Assembly to court over claims that N432 billion was diverted during his eight-year administration, leaving the state with a huge debt portfolio.
El-Rufai filed a fundamental rights suit at the Federal High Court in Kaduna against the State House of Assembly recently through his counsel, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He challenged the report of the Kaduna Assembly Committee which indicted El-Rufai for alleged corruption.
Recall that the ad hoc committee constituted by the Kaduna State House of Assembly to investigate every finance, loan and contract awarded under Nasir El-Rufai submitted its report where the ex-governor and some of his appointees were indicted.
In a swift reaction by his media aide, Muyiwa Adekeye, El_Rufai knocked the report, describing it as false and scandalous.
Adekeye said: “We are aware of news that the Kaduna State House of Assembly has adopted the report of the ad hoc committee it asked to probe the El-Rufai government. We have not been provided with a copy of the report, to which we would respond robustly whenever we obtain it. We affirm the integrity of the El-Rufai government and dismiss the scandalous claims being aired as the report of the committee.”
In his suit, El-Rufai asked the court to declare that by the provisions of Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the Report of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Investigation of Loans, Financial Transactions, Contractual Liabilities and Other Related Matters of the Government of Kaduna State between May 29, 2015 and May 29, 2023, as ratified by the Kaduna State House of Assembly, is unconstitutional and null and void for contravening his right to fair hearing as Constitution guaranteed.
