Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senator Shehu Sani, has lamented the current state of affairs in Kaduna State, blaming it on the disposition of Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who he said was at war with everyone.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sunday Telegraph, the Senator representing Kaduna Central on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said: “It is a reflection of the kind of governor we have in Kaduna State. You know he is said to be an intelligent man, so he knows everything and he is always right.”
Sani, who has been invited by the Kaduna State Police Command over an alleged confessional statement and recorded evidence of some murder suspects said: “He (El-Rufai) is not only fighting the senators, he is fighting traditional rulers, teachers, labour unions, market women, traders and every person. And you can see. So, our concern is our state.
“Kaduna State has never been badly governed as it is now. Outside of the cities, villages and towns are under siege by kidnappers and killers who invade in the night. Inside of the cities, people are being consistently harassed and intimidated by territorial gangs. This was not the Kaduna that we were born, and we don’t have any place other than Kaduna. “I was born there. I schooled there. I live there and I represent my people there.
We don’t have anything personal against him but he should understand that this is a democratic administration and whatever you do, you need to take cognizance of the sensitivities of people and the very fact that they were the ones who elected you into office.”
He said the fact that El- Rufai is fighting not only the sole Peoples Democratic Party senator in the state but also the two others elected on the same party with him spoke a lot about the governor.
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Sani, who has been at logger-heads with Governor El-Rufai said: “As far as the three senators are concerned, two of us from the APC and one from the PDP. We have seen the way and manner he is pulling that state to nowhere; and we are concerned that if he holds along this phase, we will all be consumed.
“And if he was not in good terms with the PDP senator and in good terms with the APC senators, then they will say that this man is being vilified. But when both the PDP and the APC are united in standing up against him, it clearly demonstrates and sends a message to the people outside the state that this is the kind of person he is.”
But an aide of the gover- nor, who would not like to be quoted, said the governor would not join issues with Senator Sani, but pointed said El-Rufai was not at war with anyone.
“The governor came into office with a reform agenda which includes access to education, healthcare and increasing of its Internally Generated Revenue and it is committed to this. “We did competence test and decided to weed off unqualified teachers and the first set of 15,000 employed to replace them have been posted to their various schools.
We are professionalizing governance and recently, we recruited 80 lawyers and 80 engineers for the local governments in the state,” he said.
“While the state has legacy of issues and a population of 10 million people along with huge deficit in human development index, the least expected of it is to fight anyone, but work for the development of the state.” He added, however, that if there were needs to restructure “our traditional institutions and education sector, the state government will not fail to do so, even though it will step on toes in the process.”
New Telegraph
