FROM RAHILA ABDULLAHI, KADUNA
Former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has filed a fundamental human rights suit against the state House of Assembly.
El-Rufail filed the suit at the Federal High Court, Kaduna, yesterday.
A statement made available to AljazirahNigeria on Wednesday by Media Adviser to the ex-governor, Muyiwa Adekeye, indicated that El-Rufai was at the court “to sign the affidavit supporting his fundamental rights enforcement case against the Kaduna State House of Assembly and the Kaduna State Government”.
The statement added that the lawyer to the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Abdulhakeem 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 prayed 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 29 May 2015 to 29 May 2023, as ratified by the Kaduna State House of Assembly, is unconstitutional and therefore null and void for violating his right to fair hearing as guaranteed under the Constitution”.
It would be recalled that the state assembly had earlier issued a report of N423 billion allegedly siphoned under El-Rufai’s eight years administration after a probe by an ad-hoc committee set up by the state assembly to investigate all finances, loans and contracts indicted the former governor and some of his appointees.
Irked by the report the former governor, through his counsel, is demanding a public apology from the lawmakers for a report they published, which he said defamed him and his cabinet.
El-Rufai, in a swift reaction through his media aide, Adekeye, described the report as false and scandalous.
Besides, he said the “We are aware of news that the Kaduna State House of Assembly has adopted the report of the ad-hoc committee it asked to probe the past government.
“We affirm the integrity of the El-Rufai government and dismiss the scandalous claims being aired as the report of the committee”, he said.
