PICTORIAL: Protesters Demand Prosecution Of Ex-Gov el-Rufai Over Alleged N423bn Fraud

Protesters under the auspices of Kaduna Citizens Watch for Good Governance (KCWGG) on Thursday stormed the Kaduna State Government House where they urged Governor Uba Sani to invite officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other relevant security agencies to arrest and prosecute the immediate past governor of the state, Malam Nasir el-Rufai over his indictment for misappropriating N423 billion.

The protesters who began trekking at about 11am from UTC Bus stop leading to the Government House also sang solidarity songs in support of Governor Sani.

Armed with different placards with different inscriptions, the protesters condemned alleged financial mismanagement, abuse of power, and a growing debt burden for the past eight years by the el-Rufai’s administration.

Some of the inscriptions read, “We will occupy all MDAs to chase out all indicted persons in the report; “Stop servicing all loans that did not follow due process before they were obtained; “Jimi Lawal almost killed Kaduna State the way he killed a bank some years ago,” among others.

It would be recalled that Governor Sani had on March 30th, 2024, disclosed during a town hall meeting that the state faced a substantial debt burden of $587 million, N85 billion, and 115 contractual liabilities inherited from the previous administration. This has led to over 70% of the state’s allocation being used to service the inherited debt.

In response, the Kaduna State House of Assembly constituted an ad-hoc committee to investigate the state’s financial transactions from May 29th, 2015 to May 29th, 2023.

The committee, led by Barrister Henry Danjuma Magaji, submitted its findings on June 5th, 2024, revealing significant unaccounted funds and irregularities in financial transactions under the el-Rufai’s administration.

The report highlighted mismanagement of funds, diversion of loans, overpayment of contractors, and lack of transparency in the usage of state funds.

While addressing Journalists shortly after arriving Kaduna Government House, Chairman of the protesting group, Comrade Victor Duniya said, “We, the Kaduna Citizens Watch for Good Governance, appreciate your presence as we express our grievances today. Our state has endured financial mismanagement, abuse of power, and a growing debt burden for the past eight years.

He said, the most troubling finding was the diversion of N10.5 billion meant for pastoral nomadism and the construction of the Milk Industry at Damau, Kubau LGA, for the construction of Galaxy Mall, Kaduna.

Additionally, the report uncovered overpayments to contractors, payments to unregistered companies, and funds disbursed for work not completed, amounting to over N36.3 billion.

Duniya further noted that the report also revealed large sums of money withdrawn from the state treasury without proper documentation of its usage.

Furthermore, it alleged that an expenditure of over N11 billion on a non-existent MRT transportation scheme was documented with no evidence to support it.

“While we were struggling to come to terms with the voodoo former Governor el-Rufai and his cabinet members deployed to cover the faces of Kaduna people from seeing all these atrocities, El-Rufai in his characteristically lousy manner, gathered members of his well-fed family to Sallah feast where he tacitly called on them in Hausa Language to bring down the government of Senator Uba Sani, which we believe, it is as a result of the sin of allowing the legislative arm of government to work for the first time in over 8 years.

“As concerned citizens, we condemn in the strongest terms possible the outright and merciless looting of our state, which has widened the poverty gap in the state by the immediate past administration.”

The group commended Governor Sani for holding on to the ideals of the democracy he worked for by not interfering in the activities of the Kaduna State House, “as many people expected you to stop the legislative arm of government from doing their work, as it was done in the past and also for running an open government, where regular consultations are carried out with various stakeholders, especially during town hall meetings.”

They protesters also commended the Kaduna State House of Assembly for the thorough work done in unravelling the alleged financial atrocities committed against the state, “despite blackmails and threat from the beneficiaries of the financial heist and called on Governor Sani to implement relevant sections of the report that fall under his purview.

“We call on the Governor to officially forward the findings of the committee report to relevant anti-corruption agencies to enable them to swing into action and recover our resources at their disposal.

“We assure you of our maximum support, as we are aware that those who ought to be behind bars for looting our state now have the effrontery to dish out threats to the people-centered leadership of our dear state.”

The group also called on the security agencies to immediately arrest and prosecute former Governor El-Rufai and those he has supposedly incited to bring down the government of Senator Sani.

Comrade Duniya was later received on behalf of the protesters by the Deputy Governor, Hajiya Hadiza Balarabe, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Abdulkadir Meyere, Deputy Chief of Staff, Umar Hassan Waziri, Principal Private Secretary (PPS), Professor Bello Ayuba, among others.

The government officials appreciated the group’s peaceful protest, and assured them that their message would be forwarded to the governor who was unavoidable absent at the time the protesters arrived the Government House.

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