The chairman of the Kaduna State House Committee on Information, Henry Marah Zachariah, has come up with some revelations on the financial activities of the El-Rufai administration.
The Kaduna State House of Assembly on Tuesday set up a 13-man committee to probe financial dealings, loans, grants and other project implementations from 2015–2023 under former Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s tenure.
Chairman House Committee on Public Accounts, who is also the Deputy Minority Whip, Honourable Mugu Yusuf, who moved the motion, said the public needed to know what happened during that period, adding that the House also mandated the committee to invite notable personalities that served during the period, including contractors, to explain how the loans and grants received during the period under review were spent.
Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai had on Wednesday dismissed the State House of Assembly’s adoption of a report by its ad-hoc committee demanding to probe his governance of the state from May 2015 to May 2023.
El-Rufai described it as a “politically motivated hatchet job,” insisting he served with integrity.
But appearing on Channels on Wednesday evening, Zachariah said that N423 billion was withdrawn from the state account with nothing attached to it.
”The N423 billion were monies taken from the purse of the government without any activity attached to it,” he said.
“The Commissioner for Finance and Accountant General withdrew N30 billion. They withdrew N1.4 trillion from the state government account.”
KADUNA ASSEMBLY RECOMMENDS EL-RUFAI’S PROSECUTION FR ABUSE OF OFFICE, MONEY LAUNDERING
Kaduna State House of Assembly has recommended that the immediate-past governor of the state, Nasir el-Rufai, be prosecuted for alleged abuse of office and money laundering in his administration.
This was following the investigation of the ad-hoc committee set up by the House, led by Henry Zacharia.
According to the report submitted by Zacharia on Wednesday, most of the loans obtained under el-Rufai’s administration were not used for their intended purpose, and in some cases, due process was not followed in securing the loans.
The committee, therefore, recommended the investigation and prosecution of the ex-governor and some other indicted members of his cabinet by security and anti-corruption agencies for abuse of office through the award of contracts without due process, diversion of public funds, and money laundering.