•Shehu Sani and El-Rufai
Suspended Kaduna women leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hajia Maryam Suleiman, has revealed that the former state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, traveled to Abuja 500 times to make his successor, Governor Uba Sani, a senator.
In 2018, Sani and two other senators from Kaduna State — Suleiman Hunkuyi, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Kaduna north senatorial zone; and Danjuma Laah of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kaduna south-central senatorial zone — rejected moves by El-Rufai to take a $350 million World Bank loan.
Both men eventually lost their bids for re-election and were replaced by Uba Sani and Suleiman Kwari who lobbied for the approval of the loan, reports Daily Independent.
Even with that the Upper Chamber rejected the loan request by the Kaduna State Government, following stiff opposition by the three senators from Kaduna State.
Continuing, on March 30, Senator Uba Sani, who took over from El-Rufai as Governor of the state disclosed that the state is heavily indebted and unable to pay salaries.
Reacting to the governor’s statement on the huge debt profile of the state, Senator Shehu Sani said if his advice had been heeded, Kaduna would not have found itself in the present predicament.
The 8th Assembly Lawmaker recalled how he was blocked by former governor Nasir El-Rufai when he attempted to return to the 9th Senate.
According to him, the governor blocked his return to the Senate because he stopped him from accessing the sum of $350 million World Bank loan when he was a member of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, insisting that he did that in the interest of the people of Kaduna State, as the debt was more than revenue accruing to the state at the time.
He said: “As Senate Committee Chairman on Local and Foreign Debts in the 8th Senate, I did block El-Rufai from accessing the sum of $350 million loan after I have analysed critically the huge debt that was hanging on the State at the time. I did that out of genuine interest for the State and not out of malice, but, it became an offence, El-Rufai used against me.”
Also, the serving Governor’s remarks irked the son of the former governor, Bashir El-Rufai, who in a tweet on the social media platform, X, said the Governor was only trying to cover his administration’s incompetence.
Mr El-Rufai claimed that the governor had “deflected” from his responsibilities and abandoned his duty as governor.
“These guys have realised that they are wholly incompetent and the only way to mask the nonsense is to deflect. From a Governor who is always sleeping in Abuja to a litany of incompetent aides who were only rewarded for foolish political reasons,” he said.
A section of the media had reported that Mr Sani made the statement in Kaduna while addressing a town hall meeting. The Governor said the huge debt burden was eating deep into the state’s federal allocation.
He explained that N7 billion out of the N10 billion federal allocation for the state in March was deducted to service the state’s debt.
The governor lamented that the N3 billion left from the allocation was not enough to pay salaries, as the state’s monthly salary bill stands at N5.2 billion.
However, the governor explained that despite the debt inherited, his administration has not borrowed “a single kobo” in the last nine months of his government.
“Despite the huge debt burden of $587 million, N85 billion, and 115 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. It gladdens my heart to inform you that despite the huge inherited debt on the state, to date, we have not borrowed a single kobo,” the governor said.
But Hajia Suleiman, yesterday, criticized the governor, revealing how his predecessor lobbied party chieftains at the APC headquarters in Abuja to ensure that he represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the 9th National Assembly.
Speaking in Hausa, Mrs Suleiman who is popularly called Mai Rusau until her suspension in a letter signed by the Ward Chairman, Ali Maishago and Secretary, Saka Bassahuwa respectively, as the Women leader of Badarawa/Mailali Ward of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Kaduna State, disclosed that El-Rufai fought hard and took risk to remove Senator Shehu Sani out of the way for Uba who was considered loyal at the time.
Part of the letter read: “The Badarawa/Mailali Ward APC Executive Committee after due deliberations and careful examination on the viral video clip released on 30th March, 2024 via Social Media network: Facebook, Watshapp, and Tiktok which is against the constitution of our dear party, APC as stated in Article 21.2(v).
“Subsequently, the party relied on defamation of character of his Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Uba Sani.
“Unauthorised Publicity of the party dispute that discredited the personality of the Executive Governor of Kaduna State. From today, Sunday 31st March, the leadership of APC in Badarawa/Malali Ward unanimously resolved to suspend Hajiya Maryam Suleiman from the party pending further investigation on the matter from the constituted authority.”
