Bashir El-Rufai, a son of the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has levelled accusations of incompetence and subpar performance against the current Governor, Uba Sani. This comes in response to remarks made by Governor Sani about the previous administration.
At a town hall meeting in Kaduna last Saturday, Governor Sani disclosed that he had inherited a substantial debt of $587m, N85bn, and 115 contractual liabilities from the El-Rufai administration. He expressed concern that this debt was significantly impacting the state's federal allocation.
Governor Sani detailed that out of the N10bn federal allocation for the state in March, N7bn was deducted to service the state's debt. This left the state with a mere N3bn, an amount he stated was insufficient to cover salaries, given that the state's monthly salary bill is N5.2 billion.
"Despite the huge debt burden of 587 million Dollars, 85 billion Naira, and 115 Contractual Liabilities sadly inherited from the previous administration, we remain resolute in steering Kaduna State towards progress and sustainable development. We have conducted a thorough assessment of our situation and are sharpening our focus accordingly," Governor Sani had said.
However, Bashir El-Rufai, through a series of posts on social media, criticised Governor Sani for appointing "incompetent aides for political patronage." He argued that the current administration, instead of acknowledging its incompetence, was deflecting by raising alarm about a debt burden inherited from the El-Rufai administration.
Bashir further questioned the wisdom of the current administration in "building a banquet hall for N7 billion" while simultaneously "lamenting about debt left by the previous administration."
He wrote: "These guys have realised that they are wholly incompetent and the only way to mask the nonsense is to deflect. From a Governor that is always sleeping in Abuja to a litany of incompetent aides that were only rewarded for foolish political reasons. FYI: He was the Senator from Kaduna who lobbied & approved the loans. One would think that from all the FAAC allocations these unserious clowns have changed to dollars, debt would be the least of their problems. The current administration in Kaduna is building a banquet hall for 7BN naira and is lamenting about debt left by the previous administration."