Former members of the Kaduna State Executive Council who served under the immediate past government of ex-governor Nasir El-Rufai have refuted a report by the state assembly indicting their principal.
The Kaduna State House of Assembly had probed the El-Rufai government of 2015-2023, indicting the administration for alleged corruption.
But days after the indictment, exco members who served under El-Rufai, denied the claim, maintaining they served the state with integrity.
“We dismiss this Report and the processes associated with it in their entirety. The report is the outcome of a process motivated by malice and conducted with patent unfairness. It is irredeemably riddled with falsehood, predetermined conclusions, and misrepresentation. The Report is bereft of rigour and accuracy and fails to demonstrate any understanding of the various matters it purported to investigate,” a statement jointly signed by a former commissioner of environment, Jafaru Ibrahim Sani; former commissioner of human services and social development, Hafsat Mohammed Baba; a former commissioner of planning and budget commission, Umar Yusuf Aboki; and former chief of staff, Bashir Saidu, on behalf of others, read.
“The authors of this Report and their sponsors seem to have calculated that rigour is not required in a document whose purpose is to splash mud and smear
reputations. We shall exercise our right to defend our hard-earned reputations, but without prejudice to that day, we wish to rebut and refute the avalanche of dirty lies dressed up as a clean official report.”
They affirmed, “the integrity of the Administration in which we served the people of Kaduna State between May 2015 and May 2023 under the leadership of Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai”.
According to the commissioners, during the eight years of their service, the administration “impacted Kaduna State with innovations that accelerated the modernisation of the State, prioritised human capital development, expanded its infrastructure, improved its business standing, promoted equality of opportunity”.
“During Malam El-Rufai’s tenure, his Administration, in spite of our State’s public safety challenges were undoubtedly established as one of the best in Nigeria,” the insisted.