N423bn: We’ll Meet In Court, Kaduna Assembly Tells El-Rufai’s Aides

Kaduna State House of Assembly has taken up some senior political appointees of Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s administration over Tuesday’s exoneration of their principal of any wrongdoing while in office.
The lawmakers urged them to prepare their defences before the anti-corruption agencies and courts rather than wasting their energies on press conferences.

The chairman of the fact-finding committee and deputy speaker of the House, Hon. Henry Magaji, in a statement made available to newsmen, noted that in the press conference addressed in Abuja, the former political appointees made strenuous efforts to poke holes in the report of the Probe Committee, adding that they resorted to name-calling and wild allegations on the motivations for the House Probe.
Magaji averred that the press conference was just a rehash of the vituperations and innuendoes heaped on them by the former political appointees in their first press briefing and that there was nothing new that should warrant their response, stressing that they failed to address the main issue, which is the systematic and coordinated cornering of the resources of Kaduna State through phoney contracts and outright looting.

“The State House of Assembly, in line with its constitutional mandate and response to public demand, thoroughly probed the humongous debts incurred by the immediate past administration without commensurate projects. We dug deep and unearthed the monumental heist carried out in Kaduna State in the guise of project execution. Our findings revealed a litany of poorly executed, abandoned projects that exist only in the imagination of executive scammers.

“We have called on anti-corruption agencies to step in and invite indicted persons for questioning. The anti-corruption agencies can either validate or disprove our findings, not individuals who spent their days in public office cornering the common patrimony of the people of Kaduna State and mortgaging the future of its children and grandchildren.”

He urged the former political appointees to deploy their energies towards preparing their defences before the anti-corruption agencies and eventually the courts, adding that “the House of Assembly is not in a battle of wits with them. We have done our duty to the people of Kaduna State. Let them answer to the charges of malfeasance, abuse of office, disrespect for the law and due process levelled against them.”

The deputy speaker observed that they are currently in court with the head of the indicted administration, Malam El-Rufai, over the issue of fair hearing and will not comment on the matter because it is sub-judice but that they stand for the rule of law and due process.
“We are elected representatives of the people. We are accountable to the people. We have a constitutional responsibility to make laws and carry out functions for the people’s welfare, safety and security. The probe carried out by the House furthers the oath we took to advance the interests of the people of Kaduna State.

“The few political appointees making desperate but futile moves to denigrate the House and cover up the alleged fraud perpetrated by the previous government represent no one but themselves. If they genuinely have the interest of Kaduna State and are truly men and women of integrity, they would have applied themselves to developing the state instead of participating in the alleged pilfering of its scarce resources,” the statement added.