Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has vehemently refuted accusations of financial mismanagement levied against his administration by his successor, Governor Uba Sani. The allegations, which claim El-Rufai’s administration diverted N423 billion, have sparked a heated dispute between the two leaders.
El-Rufai Dismisses Financial Misconduct Claims
During a press conference in Abuja, El-Rufai’s former commissioners denounced the financial report presented by the Kaduna State House of Assembly on June 5, 2024. They labeled the report as unfounded and a deliberate attempt to tarnish El-Rufai’s reputation. The commissioners argued that the report’s figures were inconsistent and lacked transparency.
“The report does not show where the money was taken from, how it was taken, or by whom,” the commissioners stated. They accused the Ad-hoc Committee of fabricating figures, describing the report as an act of “voodoo accounting.”
The former officials highlighted discrepancies within the report, noting that the state government’s revenue was inconsistently reported. “State Government’s share of revenues is put at N811.6 billion on one page, yet a different figure of N1.497 trillion appears on another,” they pointed out. These inconsistencies, according to the commissioners, undermine the credibility of the report.
In detailing the purported siphoning of N423 billion from May 29, 2015, to May 29, 2023, the commissioners emphasized the lack of evidence presented in the report. “The report does not show how they arrived at this figure, and how they decided that money had been siphoned, how it was done, from which accounts and to where. They just decreed a figure and declared it!” the commissioners said.
The officials also criticized the House of Assembly members for being swayed by the seemingly arbitrary figures. “The avalanche of figures seems only to have had the effect of mesmerizing the legislators who cite one amount here, and then something different on exactly the same figure,” they stated.
Accusations of Bias and Conflict of Interest
El-Rufai’s team also criticized the ethical integrity of the report’s authors. They accused Governor Sani of using his brother to craft the report, calling it unethical. They also questioned the absence of an investigation into the CBN-sponsored Anchor Borrowers Scheme under the current administration, despite significant borrowing in Kaduna State.
“There is a loud silence in the report about the Anchor Borrowers Programme,” they noted. The commissioners claimed that testimony from a former Agriculture Commissioner was omitted from the report, suggesting a deliberate attempt to avoid inconvenient facts.
The commissioners also pointed to conflicts of interest involving key members of the Ad-hoc Committee. They cited the Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, who was previously investigated for having untaxed income, and questioned his impartiality in presiding over the adoption of the report.
The Speaker, they alleged, was involved in a public-private partnership with Kaduna Markets to develop a Neighbourhood Centre and had differences with the management of Kaduna Markets. “Despite these obvious conflicts, he presided at the House of Assembly session that adopted the Ad-hoc Committee’s recommendation that the former chairman of KADIRS and the former Managing Director of Kaduna Markets be referred for further investigation,” they added.
The former commissioners also mentioned Barr. Mahmud Lawal Isma’ila, a member of the Ad-hoc Committee, highlighting that he is Governor Uba Sani’s brother. “He is unqualified to pass judgment on us,” they stated.
Source: Vanguard
