By: Lawal M. Kasim
*”Right is right even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong even if everyone is for it.” ___ William Penn*
Mallam Nasiru El_Rufai, the erstwhile Governor of Kaduna State, was a leader whose leadership style was tantamount to a jigsaw puzzle, if you applaud here, you sarcastically lambaste him there. His leadership modus operandi was navigated along modernization, which was beyond the periphery of Kaduna State financial capacity. That was what prompted him to go borrowing to satisfy his modernization proclivity; that was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. As the popular maxim says, “he who goes borrowing goes sorrowing”. Modernization is good, but it has to go in tandem with the resources available. That modernization agenda was what ensnared Mallam Nasiru and led to his pyrrhic victory.
He has recently quickly taken Kaduna State House of Assembly to court to prove himself not guilty. *’Actus non facit neum nisi mens sit rea.’* Mallam Nasiru was proverbially known for his tactical maneuverability. Can his tactics bail him now? The answer to this question is: only the tribunal will be the final arbiter. To begin with, I deem it necessary to venture this write up base on Kaduna State House of Assembly findings and not my opinion. The Kaduna State House of Assembly Committee has alleged Mallam Nasiru El_Rufai and his cabinet for the misappropriation of 423 Billion Naira and misconduct in relation to his position. In line with this, I keep on hearing people castigating Mallam Uba Sani for signing the debt for El_Rufai. In accordance with people’s notion, had Uba Sani not signed the debt, when he was the Senate Committee Chairman on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, the financial misappropriation by El_Rufai administration would not have seen the light of the day.
In conformity to the above, I will like to crave people’s indulgence by discarding their notion with cogent fact. It is one thing for Uba Sani to sign the debt for El_Rufai, and it another thing for El_Rufai to use the debt in the right perspective. Their is a maxim, “he who call the tune, call the pipers.” One thing we ought to bear at the back of fingertips is, what Uba Sani did of signing the debt was not unconstitutional. The law that gave El_Rufai the right to seek for loan; was the same law that gave Uba Sani right to sign it for him. There is no point of raising eyebrows here, or making a lot of hues and cry, concerning Governor Uba Sani signing the debt for El_Rufai
In addendum, it was up to El_Rufai to use the loan in the right trajectory. To reiterate the fact, there is no reason for blaming Uba Sani for signing the debt. Going down memory lane, Every Tom Dick and Harry had given El_Rufai hope for taking Kaduna State to the highest echelon of development, but the reverse was the case to some certain extent. In the same vein Uba Sani had signed the debt with good expectations from El_Rufai for service delivery, taken cognizance of the projects he started, which at the tail end turned into an exercise in futility.
To speak from the horse’s mouth, El_Rufai and his contractors and as well as his cabinet, need to be investigated. In as much as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton the former President of America and Senator respectively, had hitherto faced the tribunal, there should be no exception to anyone. The law is supreme; nobody is above the law. The projects his contractors embarked on during his tenure were beautiful nonsense. Why are they supposed to be investigated? Two questions are to be asked here for clarity and the questions are simple. It is either the contractors have siphoned part of the money injected to them for the projects, or the money apportioned for the projects was not given to them accordingly. Period! Evidence of these were the uncompleted projects that can be seen apparently in different locations within Kaduna State. If the money apportioned for the contractors for the projects was not siphoned and given to them accordingly, the projects would have been completed or otherwise respectively. This is an undeniable fact that testifies the veracity of Kaduna State House of Assembly statement alleging Mallam Nasir El_Rufai and his cohorts of misappropriating 423 Billion Naira.
I will like to ring to the ears of Kaduna State citizens, and I do hope it will convivially echo in their ear drums. ‘Mutanan Kaduna kunnan ku nawa?’ ‘Dan Allah ku dan bani aro’. Uba Sani has myriad of blueprints for Kaduna State since his inauguration. I am not blowing his trumpet. Paucity of resources at the disposal of Kaduna State coffers was the major constraint that retard his blueprints for Kaduna State to be fully implemented. He has good ambitions for transforming Kaduna State. This is not flattery. You can justify my assertion by virtue of looking at the projects he initiated when he was the Senator representing Kaduna Central Constituency. He initiated the new Faculty of Engineering at the Kaduna State University permanent site in Rigachikun, Igabi Local Government area. The three billion naira intervention is the biggest by the Federal Government in any state institution. This was a remarkable achievement by his tenure as a senator, and by extension influencing development in Kaduna State University. He brought NDIC intervention project that built: 110 Bed Hostels at the Government Science Secondary School Birnin Gwari. He brought NCC that built ICT Centre at Maimuna Gwarzo, Government Second School, Unguwar Sunusi, Kaduna South Local Government. He built ICT Centre at Turunku Igabi Local Government. He built Maternity Hospital at Birnin Gwari. He built Skills Acquisition Centre at Nasarawa, Kaduna South Local Government. He facilitates for the first time CBN’s non_interest loan window. He facilitates approval of CBN 60 Billion Naira non_interest loan. He secures jobs at both state and federal level to several people. He pays WAEC and NECO to several students of the indigents. He sponsored 32 Bills as a Senator, 5 of the Bills were passed and signed into law by the former President, which no Senator of the 9th Senate have achieved that fit. Rigasa Medical Centre Bill and Giwa Federal College were also passed. The above were some of the achievements of Governor Uba Sani, when he was Senator representing Kaduna Central Constituency. If the money misappropriated and siphoned by the erstwhile administration in Kaduna State will be retrieved, our down_to_earth Governor, in the person of Mallam Uba Sani, will spread his tentacles in transforming Kaduna State into a hub of economic development, insha Allahu. Allah will be his guide in fighting and winning the case no matter how the roughs and tumble, in the interest of Kaduna State, insha Allahu. Kaduna State will be great through the leadership of Mallam Uba Sani, insha Allahu. To Allah be all the glory and adoration. Amen.
30th June, 2025
mohammedkasimlawal@gmail.com
Lawalmuhammedkasim@gmail.com
