The Justice Ibrahim Bako-led Kaduna State Governorship Election Tribunal has adjourned sitting to Tuesday, July 23 to enable the second respondent bring more witnesses at the hearing of the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Isa Ashiru, challenging the March 9 election.
The second respondent, who opened his defence on Friday, was able to arraign just one witness before moving for adjournment.
Earlier, Malam Hussaini Barmo who was a member of the Election Planning and Monitoring Directorate of Kaduna State Chapter of All Progressive Congress (APC), adopted his deposition as evidence before the tribunal.
Cross examining the witness, counsel of APC, the third respondent, Barrister Sharafa Yusuf, asked him to confirm the results from Kubau local government, which Barmo did.
The witness also confirmed that the results were for voting points where the number of voters exceeded 750.
Malam Barmo also told the tribunal that results from each of such voting points were added to the mother polling units before the aggregate votes were recorded in the forms EC8E.
Also cross examining the witness, counsel to the petitioner, Barrister Hassan El Yakub asked Barmo whether he was an agent of APC during the last election and he answered in the negative.
The witness however said that APC had agents in every ward throughout the state “but I was not one of them.”
Barmo further said that he got the information on pages 15 to 56 of his deposition “from party agents across polling units, wards and local governments of the state. ”
Barmo also said that he didn’t visit any polling unit, adding “the only polling unit that I went to was the one where I voted at Sardauna Crescent in Kaduna North local government.”
Counsel to Governor Nasir El Rufai who is the second respondent, AbdulHakeem Mustapha (SAN), moved a motion for adjournment to enable him arraign more witnesses, which the tribunal granted.
Tag: el-rufai
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Kaduna guber: Tribunal adjourns as El Rufai opens defence
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El-Rufai: Northern Nigeria backward, uneducated, unhealthy
Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasiru El-Rufa’i, was unsparing in his assessment of Northern Nigeria on Saturday as he described the region as backward, uneducated and unhealthy.
He also quickly added the positives, some that may be controversial: the north feeding the nation, producing its richest citizen, the northerners less involved in fraud and being more honest and the north being the most populous region.
El-Rufa’i gave this view during the Northern Youth Summit organized by Northern Hibiscus Initiative in Kaduna.
He said the northern region has made Nigeria a country of nations.
“Looking at the statistics, Nigeria appears to be a middle income country,
but if we segregate those statistics across states and zones, you will see that in terms human development indicators, Nigeria consist of two countries; there is a backward, less educated and unhealthy Northern Nigeria and a developing, largely educated and healthy southern Nigeria.
“The theme of this summit, ‘Awakening the Arewa Spirit’ is very timely. When we talk about awakening the spirit, it means the spirit is either sleeping or dead.
“We have to speak the truth to ourselves and ask why is it that, northern Nigeria has development indicators similar to Afghanistan, a country still at war.
“Nigeria has the largest number of poor people in the world, most of them in northern Nigeria.
“Nigeria also has the largest number of out of school children, virtually all of them in Northern Nigeria.
” Northern Nigeria has become the centre of drug abuse, gender violence, banditry, kidnapping and terrorism.
“We have also been associated with high divorce rate and breakdown of families.
“These are the challenges that confront us. This is the naked truth that we have to tell ourselves.
“We must therefore as leaders at all levels have conversation about the way forward for our part of the country.
“Because increasingly, as many of you must have seen on social media, we are being considered as the parasite of the federal economy, even though, that is not entirely true.
“This is because Northern Nigeria still feeds the nation. The richest business man in Nigeria is still Aliko Dangote not someone from Southern Nigeria, thank God for that.”
He however noted that in spite of the negative statistics, northerners are generally considered to be more honest and less corrupt than other Nigerians.
“That is something we should be proud of.
“In addition, our demographic superiority gives us a very powerful tool to negotiate in politics and that is something we should be proud of and we should preserve. So, we have every reason to unite and not be divided.
“So, we still have a lot to be proud of. We should be proud of our culture and tradition, as well as unity.
“You hardly can find someone from Northern Nigeria convicted of 419 or being a Yahoo boy. That is something we should be proud of.”
El-Rufa’i said youth account for 80 per cent of the northern population as such the future of the region lies in their hands, “not in the hands of Dinosaurs like me.”
According to him, people of his age ought not to be in leadership if the youth will unite to assume their rightful place.
“In my view, we are here to prepare the next generation of leaders. That is why the agenda for this summit is very important.
“So, you should take the panel discussions very seriously and come up with very clear and implementable decisions that you will circulate to all of us elected to lead in Northern Nigeria.”
He said that the outcome of the summit should be forwarded to the Chairman of Northern States Governors Forum.
“We have to do something about the situation of Northern Nigeria and we must do so as a group of 19 Governors, not individual state Governors.
“I am however persuaded that, this gathering and its panel discussions will find solutions to the problems.” the governor said.
El-Rufa’i appealed to the organizers to make it an annual event, assuring that the Kaduna State Government will be happy to partly sponsor it. -
Gov. El-Rufai appoints Chief of Staff, 7 other aides
Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has appointed Muhammad Sani Abdullahi, the immediate past Commissioner for Planning and Budget, as Chief of Staff.
This was contained in a statement by Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner-Designate, Internal Security and Home Affairs, on Friday in Kaduna.
The statement said the governor also appointed seven other officials, including new heads of the State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA) and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).
According to the statement, Bala Yunusa will serve as the Deputy Chief of Staff, Legislative, Hamza Abubakar as Executive Secretary, SPHCDA and Ben Kure, Special Adviser, Political Matters.
Others are Dr Omano Edigheji, Special Adviser, Research and Documentation and Maimuna Abubakar Zakari, Executive Secretary, SEMA.
The governor also appointed Dr Habiba Ibrahim Mohammed as Special Assistant, Geographic Information Service and Jamilu Albani, Director-General, Interfaith Matters.
Abdullahi, the new chief of staff, was appointed Commissioner for Planning and Budget in 2015 and served in that capacity throughout the first term of Gov. El-Rufai.
He had served as a Policy Adviser in the Executive Office of United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon in New York and was a member of the Secretary General’s core team that designed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In 2018, Muhammad was appointed as a member of the World Bank’s Advisory Council on Citizen Engagement. -
Guber contest: Kaduna election tribunal adjourns to June 17
The Kaduna State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Saturday adjourned hearing in the main petition of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to Monday, June 17.
The Tribunal adjourned to allow the respondents in the petition time to study and verify documents, the petitioners presented as evidence before the Tribunal.
Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Ibrahim Bako, announced the adjournment at the resumed hearing in the main Petition of the PDP on Saturday in Kaduna.
Bako said the three respondents, Gov. Nasiru El-Rufa’i, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were not privy to the documents brought before the tribunal by the petitioners.
According to him, the respondents would need time to study the documents assembled by the petitioners to prepare their responses.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the PDP had assembled series of Certified True Copies (CTC) of documents comprising of INEC result sheets, voters’ registers used during the March 9 governorship poll in the state.
Bako said, the Tribunal, on the adjourned date, would admit those petitioners’ documents certified by the three respondents as evidence, while those they disagreed on would be presented for argument by counsel to the parties.
Meanwhile, Counsel to the PDP, Elisha Kurah (SAN) told Newsmen shortly after the adjournment, that the party had assembled 685 witnesses to testify within the two weeks given by the tribunal.
Kurah said the petitioners had all the needed documentary evidence and witnesses to prove their case before the Tribunal.
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Senate Presidency: We appreciate Goje’s sacrifice – El Rufai
Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has applauded Sen. Danjuma Goje(APC-Gombe Central) for stepping down for Sen. Ahmad Lawan(APC-Yobe) in the race for Presidency of the 9th Senate.
El-Rufai spoke with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja after he, Lawan, Goje and Senator-elect, Uba Sani(APC-Kaduna Central) emerged from a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday.
He said that Goje had withdrawn from the race for Senate Presidency and endorsed the candidacy of the Lawan, who was the preferred candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“We discussed steps to unify our leadership in the National Assembly starting with the senate.
“I am very pleased to announce that distinguished Sen. Goje has agreed to fully endorse and support the choice of the party and that of the President within the Senate; that is Sen. Lawan.
“We are very grateful to Goje for his sacrifice, patience; this discussion has been going on for a long time and I am honoured to be part of it and I am grateful to him for recognising the many years we have worked together when he was minister.
“ I know him to be a man of impeccable integrity and a man of his word and I am very honoured that he has come to see the president and to conclude this matter once and for all,’’ he said.
On his part, Goje thanked his supporters and associates across the country, who had been urging him to declare for the Senate Presidency.
He said that, as an elder statesman in the Senate for a long time, he should be able to appreciate leadership coming from the party elders.
Goje said that in spite of the calls from his supporter, he had because of his loyalty to the president and for the interest of the party, decided to step down from the race.
“Instead, I am supporting the party’s position thereby endorsing the candidature of Sen. Lawan.
“ I am not compelled to step down; I have been winning my elections many times from local government to House of Assembly, to National Assembly to governorship and I was also a minister.
“To say that I have been threatened to support somebody, no! I am supporting Lawan based on my own conviction that I am doing the right thing for our country, for our president,’’ he said.
Speaking, Lawan thanked Buhari, El-Rufai and Goje for the making agreement possible.
He said that the endorsement by Sen. Goje was going to bring so much unity in the APC and indeed in the entire Senate in a bi-partisan fashion.
“I believe that is the way to go, we want to go to the ninth Senate focused and united right from onset, kick start our activities which is very important at this time.
“The country needs a senate that is focused and united for optimum performance and I believe that the senators-elect will be happy to hear that this has been achieved.
“I want to thank Sen. Goje, he is very experienced politician like he has said; he has been in this business much longer and than most of us really.
“ I respect him; even when there were so many clamours for him to run for the position of the president of the senate, he never came out to publicly to declare.
“ Even though he had enormous respect and following, he has willingly chosen to respect the wishes of the party and president, is the best position any politician could take,’’ he said.
He thanked those who had been working behind the scene to try and broker the understanding, adding that the race had been changed for the better
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JUST IN: El-Rufai sacks all political appointees
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has directed all political appointees to submit letters of resignation by 30th April 2019.
The governor will exercise his constitutional prerogative to decide on re-appointments while giving the Kaduna State Ministry of Finance adequate time to compute severance payments and reconcile any liabilities.
According to the directive, each notice of resignation must be submitted along with a handover note, signed by the political appointee on behalf of the MDA or office to which he or she had been appointed. All resignation letters should be properly addressed to the Principal Private Secretary.
A statement by the Governor’s spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, stated that Malam Nasir El-Rufai has thanked all political appointees for their contributions and service to the state during his first-term.
He said: “As he constitutes the team that will assist him in his second-term, the governor said he expects the process to be enriched by the handover notes from the political appointees, and the report of the Transition Committee headed by the Deputy Governor-elect, Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe.
“The following appointees are expected to comply with the directive: All Commissioners in the State Executive Council, All Permanent Secretaries, Special Advisers, Directors-General, Executive Secretaries, Managing Directors, General Managers and other Heads of Agencies, Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants and Technical Assistants to the Governor, other than the Kashim Ibrahim Fellows.
“Excluded from compliance with this directive are full-time Commissioners of certain State Executive bodies who retain their tenured appointments in the following agencies: i. Fiscal Responsibility Commission
- Civil Service Commission
iii. Judicial Service Commission
iiii. Assembly Service Commission
- The State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM)
- The Peace Commission
vii. Public Procurement Authority
viii. Water Regulatory Authority
“Due to recent adjustments in roles within the government, the occupants of and recent appointees into the following offices are also exempted from the directive to resign: a. Commissioner of Finance
- Principal Private Secretary
- Accountant-General
- Special Adviser, Intergovernmental Relations
- Managing Director, Kaduna Markets Development Company
- Managing Director, Kaduna Investment and Finance Company, and
- Any other political appointee sworn-in or appointed to their current role within the last six months.”
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El-Rufai appoints new finance commissioner, accountant-general for Kaduna
A reshuffle has been announced in the management of the Kaduna State Ministry of Finance. The ministry has not had a substantive commissioner since the resignation of Suleiman Abdu Kwari became effective on January 7, 2019.
A government statement disclosed that Muhammad Saidu has been appointed as the new Commissioner of Finance. Mr Saidu is one of the original 13 commissioners cleared by the Kaduna State House of Assembly in 2015. He took the position of commissioner for local government in the first cabinet. He was appointed Chief of Staff in December 2016.
Mr Saidu’s mandate, according to the statement, is to restructure and reposition the finance ministry within the shortest possible time for the challenges of the second term of the Nasir El-Rufai government.
He will be assisted in that task by Idris Nyam, the erstwhile Permanent Secretary in the ministry, who has been appointed Accountant-General. Umar Waziri, the former Accountant-General, becomes Managing Director of the Kaduna Investment and Finance Company. The most senior director in the ministry will act as Permanent Secretary until further notice.
The government statement also disclosed that Salisu Suleiman, the Principal Private Secretary, will cover the duties of the Chief of Staff in the absence of Muhammad Saidu.
All the new appointments become effective immediately.
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Kidnapping: Gov. El-Rufai’s convoy saves motorists on Kaduna-Abuja highway
Scores of motorists forced to park along Kaduna-Abuja highway on Wednesday following blockage of the road by kidnappers, were saved when the convoy of Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai arrived the scene.
The arrival of the governor to the scene at about 3:45 pm, made the kidnappers to evacuate after wounding some of their victims.
It is not clear whether any of the motorists were abducted, but according to Samuel Aruwan, the governor’s spokesman, El-Rufai ordered the evacuation of those injured to hospital for medical attention.
Aruwan said the governor was on his way to Abuja, but on getting to Akilubu village around 3:40pm, he sighted dozens of vehicles parked by citizens, who said kidnappers had blocked the road ahead.
“Security operatives in the governor’s convoy advanced and cleared the road of the criminals who fled into the forest.
‘After clearing the road, Governor El-Rufai directed that travelers who had been wounded by the criminals be rushed to the nearest hospital.
“The Governor also directed security agencies to intensify patrols and permanently clear the road of the bandits,” he added.
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Don’t tear Nigeria into pieces – Group warns Pastor Chris Okafor over statement on Kaduna crisis
The founder of Liberation City, Pastor Chris Okafor, has been warned against making reckless statement that could tear Nigeria into pieces.
The New Initiative for Credible Leadership (NICreL), which gave the warning, said Okafor’s recent outburst on the crisis in Kaduna State and Governor Nasir El-Rufai is unexpected of a preacher of the gospel.
Pastor Okafor had during a Sunday programme warned the Kaduna State Governor to avoid persecuting Christians and preachers in the state or risks the wrath of God.
The preacher gave El-Rufai, whom he likened to Biblical Herob seven days to reverse bill at the state House of Assembly to license religious bodies or would be visited by God.
Reacting to his comment, NICreL in a ststement through its Executive Director, Samson Onwu, said Okafor’s comment could undermine peace and security across the country.
Full text of the statement below.
The founder of Liberation City, Pastor Chris Okafor, recently sought to incite sectarian strife by interpreting “A Bill for a Law to Substitute the Kaduna State Religious Preaching Law, 1984,” in ways that suggest it was targeted at Christians in the state.
Pastor Okafor went further to warn the state governor, Nasir el-Rufai to abandon the bill within seven days or face the wrath of God and possibly die within the first two years of his next term in office. He went further to link Governor el-Rufai’s choice of a running mate in the just concluded election with the bill while citing this as basis to assert that Christians are being persecuted in Kaduna state.
The New Initiative for Credible Leadership, after reviewing a video clip in which Pastor Okafor made these and other inciting comments over the bill found it necessary to condemn the preacher’s action and utterances in the strongest terms possible. The kind of behaviour he exhibited has no place in a country governed by law and he must therefore be censured to prevent him from exploiting the cover of being a clergyman to promote ethno-sectarian hate at a time Nigeria needs healing from all the divisiveness that had held it back.
Interestingly, while Pastor Okafor presented the bill as something that was initiated just a few days ago, the bill has been with the Kaduna State House of Assembly for over three years. Furthermore, contrary to his claim that the bill’s main objective is to persecute Christians, the proposed legislation was informed by an urgent need to address the waves of sectarian strife that had repeatedly rocked the state leading to loss of lives. It was a response to unscrupulous and unschooled clergy men across religious divides, like Pastor Okafor, who abuse their position of influence to incite their followers against persons of other creeds.
It is therefore irresponsible of Pastor Okafor to use a proposed legislation meant to discourage hate preaching as a basis to incite further hatred along sectarian lines. Such behaviour calls to question what Okafor believes in as there is no record of Jesus Christ endorsing attacks against those in authority or violent response to even those that attacked him.
The pastor’s admixture of politics into his sermon equally signposts an emerging dangerous trend that could undermine peace and security across the country as clergymen encourage the faithful to migrate their sectarian biases, hatred and disaffection into everyday life. The 2019 elections saw the Christian faith being exploited and abused to promote politics of hate, a development that demystified many clergymen that were once held in high esteem but have now become false prophets before their followers. There is no doubt that this is the fate that would befall Pastor Okafor when the seven days ultimatum he handed to Governor el-Rufai to rescind the bill or die within two years fails to materialize.
While it is well known that many of the hire-for-pay clergy men are under pressure from those they sold fake prophecies to and therefore smarting from their failed predictions in the 2019 elections, there is no way to justify Pastor Okafor’s resort to incitement as a coping mechanism. The pastor has by his acts and utterances certified himself as a candidate for the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the event that any sectarian violence breaks out because of his preaching.
Pending when Pastor Okafor will keep a date with the ICC, we urge the Department of State Services (DSS) to do the needful by immediately investigating his motives and getting him to undertake not to give effect to his threats as this would lead to avoidable loss of life.We urge the Kaduna State House of Assembly and the Kaduna State Government to note that the incitement by Pastor Okafor is a wake-up call that they cannot continue to delay passing the bill and signing it into law if fanatical and extremist clergymen must be checked. In the interim, the state government should explore exiting legislation, including the anti-terrorism laws, to discourage merchants of hate whose main intention is to cause crises that are of the magnitude as terrorism.