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Tag: el-rufai

  • Prolonged crisis: No plans to relocate tertiary institution from Southern Kaduna – El-Rufai

    Prolonged crisis: No plans to relocate tertiary institution from Southern Kaduna – El-Rufai

    The Kaduna State Government has said it has no plan to relocate its tertiary institutions located in Southern Kaduna because of the lingering crisis in the area.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the schools have been shut since the beginning of the latest crisis in southern Kaduna, prompting agitations and rumour over an alleged government plan to relocate the schools.

    The Commissioner for Health, Dr Paul Dogo and that of Education, Prof. Andrew Nok, however, said at a joint press conference on Wednesday in Kaduna, that nothing of such was ever discussed by the administration.

    Dogo said, “there have never been any plans or discussions whatsoever to the best of my knowledge that the College of Midwifery, College of Education and Kaduna State University would be moved out of Kafanchan.

    “There was a social request that was made to the government and this was surely discussed by the security committee to permit certain students to write their examinations in the Kaduna campus.

    “In the month of March and May they conducted what is referred to as hospital finals for the nursing students preparing them for their National final examination in September.

    “Last Friday the preliminary trainee students just concluded their examinations that would allow us to index them.

    “All these have to be done with special permission from the security committee and with additional security provided to these students to write their examinations and as soon as the security committee is satisfied with the security situations in the state, the schools will be reopened for normal activities.’’

    On his part, No said the Kafanchan campus of the state university and College of Education, Gidan Waya have remained close because of security concerns.

    “We have not being able to collect security clearance from the security committee that we should go ahead and reopen those institutions.

    “We only thought it wise to sustain the admission for the new JAMB students; we ensured that the students were brought to Kaduna to conclude the rest of the semester.’’

    He assured that the government is making efforts to reopen the institutions as soon as possible.

    The commissioner disclosed work on additional infrastructure awarded by the government were going on, adding that it was a testimony that there was no plan to relocate the schools.

    “We want to assure students that we are working hard and hopefully soon the security issues will be resolved so that academic activities in those campuses will resume,’’ he said.

     

     

     

    NAN

  • BREAKING: El-Rufai orders arrest of youths who ordered Igbos out of region

    BREAKING: El-Rufai orders arrest of youths who ordered Igbos out of region

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has ordered the immediate arrest of all the signatory to the ‘Kaduna Declaration’ mandating all Igbos to leave the region before October 1.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that prominent Northern youth associations on Tuesday after a joint meeting tagged ‘Kaduna Declaration’ issued a serious threat to Igbos residing in the region to vacate on or before October 1 (Nigeria’s Independence Day) 2017 or face physical attacks.

    In a statement signed by his spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, El-Rufai strongly condemned, “the inciting, hate speech delivered by some self-appointed ‘northern youths.”

    El-Rufai said, ”the Kaduna State Government has directed that its Ministry of Justice should prepare charges and prosecute the signatories and anyone complicit in arranging this egregious assault on the rights of fellow citizens.”

    The Governor condemned the action of the groups, and assured every resident of the state that, “nobody can tamper with their freedom to reside where they choose.”

    The full statement reads: “The Kaduna State Government condemns in the strongest terms the press statement by some self-appointed “northern youths” that threatened the safety and property of our citizens of Igbo extraction. Government assures every resident of our state that their constitutional and human rights to live peacefully and own property wherever they choose is sacrosanct. Even people who may feel unhappy about irresponsible comments or actions that have taken place in other states must know that two wrongs cannot make a right.

    “The Kaduna State Government believes in and will uphold the right of every Nigerian to live safely and develop his/her full potentials within its territory.

    “Reckless disregard for the rights of other citizens drips through the press statement by these “northern youths” who have chosen to use the discourse around restructuring to promote their own agenda of hate, division and incitement. This sort of opportunists cannot be allowed to distort debate, or turn it into a pretext for a barely-disguised agenda of displacement and dispossession of some citizens.

    “We will not tolerate such irresponsible statements and conduct in our state. The statement issued by the “northern youths” violates the laws of Kaduna State. Therefore, the Kaduna State Government has directed that its Ministry of Justice should prepare charges and prosecute the signatories and anyone complicit in arranging this egregious assault on the rights of fellow citizens.

    “Preparatory to prosecution, the police have been directed to immediately arrest, interrogate the signatories to the statement and investigate all the circumstances and persons that may be implicated in the matter.

    “The Kaduna State Government urges all residents to ignore the threats from the “northern youths”. We are in contact with the leadership of the Igbo community in Kaduna, and we delighted to say that this community, like all our other communities, believes in the strength of the constitutional order to protect all citizens.

    “KDSG wishes to encourage all our people to celebrate the diversity with which the Almighty has blessed us, to continue to shun agents of division, and to stand firm in upholding a common humanity. Everyone has a right to live in peace and harmony.”

  • Jonathan rejected 2015 election results after congratulating Buhari – El-Rufai

    Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State on Tuesday accused former President Goodluck Jonathan of rejecting the 2015 elections results after calling to congratulate the winner, President Muhammadu Buhari.

    El-Rufai spoke in response to the former president’s reply to his (El-Rufai’s) accusation that he (Jonathan) distributed N2 billion Ecological Fund to only PDP states during his tenure as president.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the former president in his response described El-Rufai as an incurable liar whose reputation for savaging is almost pathological.

    However, in a swift response, El-Rufaí through his media aide, Samuel Aruwan, said the former President had failed to justify why he released the fund only to his cronies instead of all the states.

    The governor lamented that instead of addressing the moral issues raised in the interim report of the investigation instituted by the National Economic Council, Jonathan chose to resort to personal attacks.

    “He is not a man that can take responsibility for anything.

    “In March 2015, not long after making concession call to President Buhari, he summoned his pecks and ask them to reject the result of an election whose winner he had congratulated in private.

    “That effort and publicity failed spectacularly and the will of people prevailed.

    “So no one should be surprised that he is denying presiding over the discrete distribution of the ecological funds.

    “His denial begs the question, what special circumstance ensured that only states that were controlled by the PDP and its allied parties qualified for the N2 billion each.”

    El-Rufa’i accused Jonathan of running Nigeria while in power for his party and family.

    “Jonathan cannot argue with fact that the payment are in the record of ecological fund.

    “He knowingly engaged in discriminatory disbursement of federal fund; the legality of that is open to question.”

    He dismissed as disingenuous, the former president’s argument that money was also disbursed for the Green Wall Project in some northern states.

    El-Rufa’i also noted that Jonathan had failed in his response, to show where he lied regarding the disbursement of N2 billion to each of the affected states as contained in the NEC interim report on the utilisation of the Ecological Fund.

    The governor reminded the former president that the investigation being carried out was at the instance of NEC and not a personal initiative.

     

     

     

  • Ecological fund: ‘El-Rufai is an incurable liar’ says Jonathan

    Former president Goodluck Jonathan has reacted to a statement credited to Kaduna State governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai where he said ‘”What President Goodluck Jonathan did was to take N2bn each from the Ecological Fund and gave to some PDP states.

    Any PDP state that was not his friend, like Kano and Kwara, didn’t get.” A statement released by Ikechukwu Eze, Media Adviser to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, titled “ON EL-RUFAI’S LIES AGAINST JONATHAN ON THE SHARING OF THE ECOLOGICAL FUND” reads: “That Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State has an incurable knack for lying has been proven by his own boss, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo who described El-Rufai in his book-My Watch Volume 2 as follows: “Nasir’s penchant for reputation savaging is almost pathological.

    Why does he do it? He is brilliant and smart. I grant him that also. Very early in my interaction with him, I appreciated his talent and brilliance. At the same time, I recognised his weaknesses; the worst being his inability to be loyal to anybody or any issue consistently for long, but only to Nasir el-Rufai. He barefacedly lied which he did to me against his colleagues and so-called friends.

    I have heard of how he ruthlessly savaged the reputation of his uncle, a man who was like, in the African setting, his foster father. I shuddered when I heard the story of what he did to his half-brother in the Air Force who is senior to him in age.”

    “With such a description, we are not surprised at his recent comments after the just concluded National Economic Council meeting where he accused former President Jonathan of only sharing the National Ecological Fund to PDP States. Mr. El-Rufai lied as follows: “What President Goodluck Jonathan did was to take N2bn each from the Ecological Fund and gave to some PDP states. Any PDP state that was not his friend, like Kano and Kwara, didn’t get.”

    “It is so easy to expose Malam Nasir El-Rufai as a liar being that Akwa-Ibom, a PDP state governed by the then Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and a close confidante and major supporter of the then President, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, did not get the monies alluded to by Malam El-Rufai from the Ecological Fund as did multiple other PDP states including Ekiti state, a state governed by a thoroughbred patriot and Jonathan supporter, Ayo Fayose.

    “Also, it is false that non-PDP states did not get monies from the fund. Nemesis catches up faster with liars than any other agent of evil. El-Rufai was probably led by the gods against his own sinister plot to confess in another breathe that States under non-PDP parties like APGA and Labour party also benefitted. “The fact remains that the Ecological Fund is a specialized fund with certain constitutional requirements which must be met before a state can access the funds.

    EVERY state benefitted from the fund under President Jonathan who bent over backwards to accommodate states that had difficulty meeting the criteria for accessing the fund. “El-Rufai’s sinister narrative was intentionally silent on the over N10 billion specially deployed to fund the Great Green Wall (GGW) project in some northern states, in view of the need to work with the rest of Africa on the African initiative to check desert encroachment in the Sahelian states.

    These states included Zamfara, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina and Adamawa. “Others are Yobe, Borno and Kano which belong to Mallam El-Rufai’s class of ‘non-friendly’ states that he alleged never benefitted from any discretionary fund.

    “Similar principle applies to the conditions for accessing the Universal basic Education fund where some states have not had access to what is due them, because they are yet to fulfill the mandatory criteria for allocation. Would it then be right in the name of El-Rufai’s position on equity to blame the failure of those states to access their UBEC funds on Jonathan?

    “It is really sad that judicious presidential interventions to tackle emergencies and other pressing national needs are being interrogated in a rather facile manner, by those who never get tired of playing dirty politics. “Nigerians may recall that this is not the first time that El-Rufai has vented his known passion for lying against the former President.

    “The public will recall that in October 2015 he falsely alleged that former President Jonathan spent a whopping N64 billion on Independence Day celebrations, during his tenure when in fact only N333 million was spent. “Nigerians may also recall that this same El-Rufai falsely accused former President Jonathan and former CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of founding and funding Boko Haram to the tune of N50 billion.

    “We can only wonder what new false accusation El-Rufai may come up with tomorrow, as with him it is a case of one day, one lie! “We therefore urge Nigerians to “be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” whenever this notorious liar opens his mouth.

  • Court stops El-Rufai from demolishing market in Kaduna

    Court stops El-Rufai from demolishing market in Kaduna

    A high court sitting in Kaduna has issued a restraint order on Governor Nasir El-Rufai not to go on with his plan to demolish the Kasuwar Barchi market in Kaduna.

    The court presided over by Justice Mohammed Bello, ordered the governor to hold on until the determination of the case before the court.

    The judge ordered that all respondents to the case should stop “entering into and demolishing Kasuwar Barchi, pending the hearing and determination of the case.”

    Sixteen persons had instituted the case on behalf of stall owners and traders in Kasuwar Barchi, seeking to stop the governor from demolishing the market.

    Joined in the suit are the Attorney-General of Kaduna State and Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency as second and third respondents.

    The plaintiffs include Auwalu Hussain, Kabiru Usman, Aminu Ahmed, Bawa Ahmed, Josia Sunday, Ndubueze Egbo-Ogu, Augustine Sunday.

    Others are, Ali Abdulhamid, Maryam Abubakar, Rabiatu Musa, Latifah Yusuf, Amina Abdulrauf, Aishatu Ibrahim, Hafsat Uba, Sa’adiya Ahmed and Wasilat Ahmed.

    Lawyer to the plaintiffs, Elisha Kurah, SAN, had prayed the court to restrain the defendants from going ahead with the demolition of the market.

    He also prayed the court to determine whether the establishment, maintenance and regulations of markets are vested on the governor.

    The counsel hinged his prayer on Section 7(1) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, together with item 1(e) of the 4th Schedule to the Constitution.

    He also cited Section 20(a) and 21(2) of the Local Government Administration Law of Kaduna State 2012 as amended.

    Kurah said the court should determine whether the governor has the power to issue a notice to legal occupants of a market in the state for the purpose of establishment, maintenance, regulation or conversion of the said market.

    He said that if the above questions are resolved in their favour, the court should declare that the state government lacked the legal right to make any law to derogate from the function of local governments as specified by law.

    The plaintiffs also want the court to make a declaration that the state government have no constitutional power to take over Kasuwar Barchi market from Kaduna South Local Government and hand it over to a private developer.

    They also prayed the court to declare that the establishment, maintenance and regulation of markets is a function constitutionally conferred on local governments, as such the state government has no legal right to hand over such functions to a private developer.

    The traders said the court should declare that the threat by the defendants to demolish the market, including shops of the plaintiffs, is invalid, improper, blatant display of raw executive power, illegal, unconstitutional and null and void.

    The case has been adjourned till June 5, for hearing.

  • N2bn Ecological Fund: ACN, APGA, ANPP got nothing from Jonathan – El-Rufai

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has alleged that former President Goodluck Jonathan gave the two billion naira ecological fund to each state under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ignored states under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA and All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP in 2013.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the ACN, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) have since merged, to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The fund, which is for solving emergency problems like natural disasters, is statutory.

    Speaking with State House correspondents after the National Economic Council meeting (NEC) in Abuja on Thursday, El-Rufai said: “The committee established beyond all doubts that in 2013, the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan gave N2bn to certain states of the federation but excluded other states.

    “The states that got it were all PDP states and states of other parties that were sympathetic to the PDP like Labour Party in Ondo and APGA in Anambra state. 19 states and the FCT did not get the N2bn from the ecological fund. These states are Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Borno, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Kwara and Lagos.

    “Others are Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara and the federal capital territory.

    “So, essentially what President Goodluck Jonathan did was to take N2bn each from the ecological fund and give to some PDP states.

    “Any PDP state that was not his friend like Kano and Kwara didn’t get it. And all the other opposition party, like ACN state got nothing… no ANPP state got anything.”

     

  • Audu Maikori sues Governor El-Rufai

    Audu Maikori sues Governor El-Rufai

    Showbiz entrepreneur and lawyer, Audu Maikori has sued the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai for the gross violation of his human rights.

    In a suit (FHC/ABJ/CS/385/17) filed by his lawyers, Ballason’s Chambers at the Federal High Court, Abuja, Mr. Maikori, is seeking damages against Governor El-Rufai to the tune of N10 billion.

    According to details of the suit, which came up for hearing before the trial judge, Hon. Justice John Tsoho on Tuesday, 16th May, 2017, Mr. Maikori prayed the court to administer his fundamental rights against undue harassment and intimidation by the Kaduna State government, the State Governor and the Nigerian Police.

    Maikori was detained by the Nigeria Police on charges of incitement based on a petition by the Kaduna State government attributed to a tweet, which he later withdrew and apologized for when he discovered his driver had lied to him to obtain money deceitfully.

    After forceful social media pressure, he was released on bail and subsequently cleared of any complicity by the Police Force Headquarters only to be re-arrested again and whisked off to Kaduna after Governor El-Rufai publicly vowed to prosecute him during the Social Media Week 2017.

    Following his detention for four (4) days, he was charged to a Kaduna State Magistrate Court under Section 24 of the Cybercrime Act of 2015 but released on bail on medical grounds.

     

  • Court slams N50,000 fine on El-Rufai for breaching lawyer’s right to life

    Kaduna State High Court 9 presided by Hon. Justice Esther Lolo on Monday asked Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state to pay N50,000 as fine to one Barrister Gloria Mabeiam Ballason in suit nos KDH/KAD/164/17 between her and the governor.

    The court also restrained the governor from arresting, prosecuting and jailing the young lawyer for expressing her published opinion in a Nigerian newspaper.

    The case which was first mentioned on 1st March, 2017 was filed by the Applicant’s Lagos- based lawyers, Messrs Matthew Burkaa & Co.

    Ballason had an array of prominent lawyers numbering 36. They include tough Human Rights Lawyer, Festus Okoye Esq, the Chairman Nigeria Bar Association, (NBA), Kaduna Branch, Ndasule Sherrif Esq, B.L. Aliyu Esq, Reuben James Esq ( Former 3rd national Vice President of the NBA), Mark Jacob ( Former Attorney General of Kaduna State), Timothy Kambai Esq, Mike Nwakanma Esq, Sule Shuaibu Esq, James Kanyip Esq, M.T. Mohammed Esq , Bavo Nyan Esq et al.

    According to her lawyers, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State had threatened to arrest and prosecute Gloria for her civic activities including an opinion article she wrote on November 28th, 2016 in her column in the Blueprint Newspaper.

    The threat, the court was told, was issued on 17th January, 2017 by the governor at the Kaduna State Government House when the President of the Nigerian Bar, A.B. Mahmud SAN and his team including the Applicant paid an official visit to the Governor.

    In her ruling, Justice Lolo found that contrary to the governor’s denial, that indeed a threat had been issued, “which would put any reasonable person who understands the authority of a governor in fear.”

    The Court found that there was a likelihood of a breach of Right to life under section 33 of the constituting of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. She also affirmed that there has been an infringement of the dignity of the Applicant under section 34 of the 1999 constitution.

    She also ruled that there was a breach to the right of freedom of expression of the applicant and the Press under section 39 of the 199 constitution. The Court found that the article was also not injurious and ordered the governor not to arrest the applicant on the basis of same.

  • El-Rufai disowns Chief of Staff over second term comment, threatens sack of appointees

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has released a strong worded statement duly signed by him disowning a comment by his Chief of Staff who suggested that he (El-Rufai) would not run for a second term because he (El-Rufai) was above 50 years.

    In the statement, El-Rufai noted that he did not need a surrogate to communicate his political intentions to the people of his state.

    The governor however threatened to sack any of his appointees caught politicking instead of concentrating on their immediate task of serving Kaduna people.

    He therefore directed the signage agency in his state to pull down all billboards bearing campaign messages, in violation of election laws and guidelines.

    Read full statement below:

    I will inform the public on second term when I am ready

    My attention has been drawn to statements credited to our Chief of Staff which clearly misrepresented his good intentions aimed at encouraging youths in politics and governance of our dear state. What was reported was that I had no plans to run for another term of office, and will be succeeded by someone below the age of 50. Both statements are misrepresentations of my position and the government. It has become imperative that these wrong impressions thereby created be corrected.

    In 2014, when I complied with the directive of our leader President Muhammadu Buhari to run for the office of Governor of Kaduna State, I made the announcement in person. I did not employ surrogates to engage the public on this important decision. What I did not do as an aspirant for office, I will not do as incumbent Governor. I will not communicate my decision to run for a second term in 2019 through surrogates, but directly to the people of Kaduna State.

    Regarding the views ascribed to the Chief of Staff, they are perhaps his personal opinion. I do not wish to be associated with such sentiments. I am of the firm opinion that nobody, no matter the position they hold, can dictate to other citizens what they can or cannot aspire to. No individual can introduce into the electoral process conditions that are not embedded in the laws of our country and the norms of electoral competition.

    The Constitution of Nigeria, the Electoral Act and the APC constitution have no provisions imposing maximum age limits for those aspiring to elective office. I am a strict law-abiding citizen and loyal party member, and will not countenance anyone even hinting at circumscribing constitutional rights. While our administration believes strongly in encouraging youths, evidenced by the number of young people we have appointed into key government positions, we believe that it is the combination of the wisdom of the elderly and the energy of the youth that leads to societal progress.

    While our government will continue to train these young persons in leadership responsibilities, and prepare them for the future, we do not believe that decreeing a generational shift is either lawful or pragmatic. Choice is the prerogative of the voting public which decides at each moment who and what platform they believe best represents their needs.

    Any artificial intrusion into this process can only yield unwanted distortions. And we have already suffered that distortion in Nigeria. When a military government decided to elevate those it called newbreed politicians by curtailing the rights of experienced politicians who were banned from seeking office, it did not improve the quality of our politics. Rather, it monetized the electoral process and left our polity without regard for issue-based platforms.

    For the avoidance of doubt, the choice of who governs Kaduna will depend, not on the age of the person, but his or her acceptability by the leaders of our party first, and ultimately the voters of Kaduna State. At the right time, these choices will be made and not earlier.

    The mid-point of an administration is not the time for politics. We were elected to work for four years. And that is what every appointee of this government must do. I have therefore directed all government appointees aspiring to future political or elective positions to stop putting up posters and billboards in violation of the Electoral Act. KASUPDA is further directed to take down all these as the whistle has not been blown for either national or local government elections campaign or politicking to start yet. KASUPDA is expected to impose the applicable sanctions on any violators.

    Any appointee of our administration that immerses himself or herself into ambitions for 2019, at the expense of the vital public assignments entrusted them will be deemed to have constructively vacated office, and will be relieved of his position. I appeal to all our colleagues in government to comply with this and continue to exercise prudence and commitment in the implementation of our reform and restoration programmes.

    Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai

    Governor of Kaduna State

    14th May, 2017.

  • Court fines El-Rufai N10,000 in libel suit against Metuh

    Court fines El-Rufai N10,000 in libel suit against Metuh

    A Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, has fined the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai for failing to produce his witness in a libel case against former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh.

    The governor had filed a N1.5bn suit against the former PDP spokesman for linking him to Boko Haram in 2014.

    Describing the action of the governor as an abuse of court process, Nwosu prayed the court not to entertain such.

    He also urged the court to compel the governor to produce his witness or immediately close the case.

    He also asked the court to award a cost of N150,000 in favour of his client.

    Justice Abubakar Talba, while ruling on the matter awarded a cost of N10,000 in favour of Metuh.

    Talba, consequently adjourned the matter till July 5.