The Kaduna State House of Assembly has been sued by former governor Nasir El-Rufai on grounds that his administration embezzled N432 billion and left the state with massive financial commitments.
On Wednesday, the former governor filed a petition in the Federal High Court of Kaduna against the Kaduna State House of Assembly, alleging violations of fundamental rights.
El-Rufai claimed that the committee had not given him a fair hearing when he personally showed up to submit the case.
Muyiwa Adekeye, the former governor’s communications assistant, wrote a statement on his X handle on Wednesday that included this information.
Abdulhakeem Mustapha, El-Rufai’s attorney, filed a lawsuit against the Kaduna Assembly Committee’s findings, which accused El-Rufai of corruption.
Adekeye said, “His lawyer, AU Mustapha SAN, said that El-Rufai approached the court as a Nigerian citizen who is entitled to be given a fair hearing before his rights can be determined by a quasi-judicial or investigative body or courts in line with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
“El-Rufai also asked the court to declare that by the provisions of Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the Report of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Investigation of Loans, Financial Transactions, Contractual Liabilities, and Other Related Matters of the Government of Kaduna State from May 29, 2015, to May 29, 2023, as ratified by the Kaduna State House of Assembly, is unconstitutional and therefore null and void for violating his right to a fair hearing as guaranteed under the Constitution.”
The House received the state Assembly’s ad hoc committee’s investigative report on the financial transactions, loans, and contracts of the El-Rufai administration earlier in June.
Henry Zacharia, the chairman of the ad hoc committee, claimed that most of the loans obtained under the former governor’s administration were mismanaged and that, in certain cases, the right procedures weren’t followed in order to receive them.
El-Rufai’s administration was accused by Assembly Speaker Yusuf Liman of embezzling N423 billion, causing the state to suffer severe financial setbacks.
