Nasir el-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, has threatened to name previous state leaders who are accused of embezzling money from the state and hiding it in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) and other major cities in Europe and America where they bought real estate.
He said that one of the prior governors was implicated in a lost N500 million contract to rebuild the well-known WAFF Road and that no work had been done on it until he took office and converted it into a dual carriageway.
“They robbed the money, the person they handed the WAFF road contract to is dead,” the governor claimed in an interview with Kaduna State Media Corporation’s Hausa Service.
In contrast, he singled out former vice president Namadi Sambo, who, while serving as the state’s governor, began construction on a 300-bed speciality hospital in Kaduna but was unable to finish it because of the political pressures that led to Sambo’s election as the nation’s vice president.
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All of them are thieves. I consider how they are today and how they were in the past. At Jabi in Kaduna, someone constructed a huge home. I’m going to challenge everyone who knows that our government pays contractors a 10% commission. Nonetheless, they were getting paid a 10% commission. As a quantity surveyor, I am aware of the calibre of the job they have completed.
“I’m pleased that we built sturdy roads that will survive for many years. Not the types of roads they previously built, which would deteriorate after two years and two wet seasons.
“Work still has to be done. We want Kaduna’s roadways to all be tarred. A muddy road would not be visible to anyone visiting Kaduna. There are asphalt roads and solar-powered street lights in every area of the town you visit. In Kaduna, Kafanchan, Zaria, and all other Local Government Areas, including Soba, it is exactly what we envisioned. We want to observe that.
The predicament our administration faced, however, prevented us from achieving all of our growth goals. In order to complete such initiatives, we really had to apply for loans.
“The public can see that we completed those projects using the financing we were able to get. We didn’t utilise the money to build a home on Jabi Road or buy property in Dubai. We know that neither they nor Dangote, the renowned Kano millionaire, are their parents. From elementary school, we have known them. Where does the funding come from to construct such homes? What did they do for a living?
