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 charged El-Rufai of corruption.
“As a Nigerian citizen, El-Rufai approached the court,” stated Adekeye. “His lawyer, AU Mustapha SAN, said that El-Rufai is entitled to 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 African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) 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 El-Rufai’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.
