The simmering rift between the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State Malam Nasir El-Rufai and his successor incumbent Governor Senator Uba Sani which came to the fore over the weekend over the debt profile of the state, assumed a new dimension yesterday as the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State suspended its women leader, Hajiya Maryam Suleiman over an alleged defamation of the character of the governor.
The suspended women leader is a known loyalist of el-Rufai, who is one of the leaders of the party in the state.
Sources within the corridors of power in the state had hinted that the governor had not been comfortable with the makeup of his cabinet which bears the heavy imprint of his predecessor.
Sani, who was backed by el-Rufai to become senator and later governor, had retained a good number of his predecessor’s appointees including the deputy governor, secretary to the state government and some commissioners.
The retaining of the former governor’s men in Sani’s cabinet was said to be a pay back to el-Ruaf for supporting his emergence, the sources stated.
However, the seeming cold war came to a head over the weekend when Sani said the huge debt burden left behind by his predecessor is making it difficult to pay workers salaries in the state.
Sani, at a town hall meeting in Kaduna said his administration inherited a huge debt burden of $587 million, N85 billion, and N115 billion contractual liabilities from the previous administration, adding that with the rise in the exchange rate, Kaduna State is now paying back almost triple of what was borrowed by the previous administration.
He further lamented that N7billion out of the N10billion federal allocation due to the state in the month of March was deducted to service the debt, which leaves the state with N3billion, which is not enough to pay the state’s monthly salary bill which stands at N5.2billion.
Recall that the immediate-past Governor Nasir El-Rufai had said he left a domestic debt of N80.60bn and a foreign debt of $577.32m for his successor during his handover to the new Governor last year. He also said he left N5bn and $2.05m in the state treasury.
Following the governor’s disclosure of the debt burden, a son of the former governor, Bashir elrufai, attacked the governor for revealing that his father left so much burden on the state.
Bashir, on his X handle, accused his father’s successor and political ally, of shying away from his responsibility by always staying away from the state and hibernating in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
Meanwhile, Senator Shehu Sani, who had opposed the borrowings by el-Rufai, said he has been vindicated by the unfolding events. The former lawmaker, who was replaced by the incumbent governor in the Senate through the support of el-Rufai, said on his X handle, “To the glory of our Lord Almighty, posterity has vindicated me on the Kaduna Loan and Debt profile.”
APC Suspends Former Governor’s Loyalist, Woman Leader
In what appears to be a fallout of the cold war, the APC Badarawa/Malali executive committee has suspended Kaduna State APC women leader, Hajiya Maryam Suleiman popularly known as Mai Rusau, over an alleged defaMation of the character of Governor Sani.
APC state women leader, a loyalist of el-Rufai, in a series of videos had condemned Sani for revealing the state debt burden he inherited from the previous administration.
In a letter of suspension signed by APC Badarawa/Malali ward chairman and secretary, Alhaji Ali Maiishago and Zakkah Bassahuwa, addressed to state suspended APC women leader, it explained that she was suspended from the party over unauthorised publicity of the party dispute that discredited the personality of Governor Sani.
The letter reads, ”The Badarawa/Malali Ward APC Executive Committee after due deliberations and careful examinations on the viral video clip released on 30* March, 2024 via social networks; Facebook, Whatsapp, and Tiktok which is against the constitution of our dear party APC as stated in article 21.2 (V)”
“In view of the above, below are the gross misconducts where the subsequent suspension relied upon. (1) Defamation of character of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kaduna State Malam Uba Sani. (2) Unauthorised publicity of the party dispute that discredited the personality of the Executive Governor of Kaduna State”
“Furthermore, from today Sunday 31″ of March, 2024, the leadership of APC Badarawa/Malali Ward unanimously resolved to suspend Hajiya Maryam Suleiman (Mai Rusau) from the Party pending further investigation on the matter from the constituted authority.” the suspension letter said.
Also, in a telephone interview with LEADERSHIP, Kaduna State APC secretary, Yahaya Pate, confirmed the suspension of the state women leader: ”Yes, she is suspended from the party by her Badarawa/Malali ward. She is now a suspended state women leader” he said.
The unfolding rift comes as the former governor has, in recent weeks, held political meetings with the national leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as well as with members of the PDP and APC. These meetings have since sparked rumours that he plans to dump APC and contest the 2027 presidential election. Both conjectures have been debunked by his media team.
Until his recent political consultations, el-Rufai had been in hibernation of sorts, after his ministerial nomination by President Bola Tinubu was turned down by the Senate following a petition against his nomination.
Rift Reflects Party’s Failure – Lukman
Meanwhile, a former national vice chairman, North-west of APC, Salihu Lukman has said APC leaders both in Kaduna State and at the national level must admit the party’s failure over the face-off between the Governor Sani and his predecessor, Nasir el-Rufai.
Lukman, who hails from Kaduna, made the call in reaction to inherited huge debt burden in the state.
The APC chieftain in a statement on Sunday said whatever could have been the shortcomings of el-Rufai as a Governor of Kaduna State between 2015 and 2023 would have been strengthened by the absence of a strong functional party structure, which could have checked or at the least moderated his excesses.
He said those realities are still there today and if allowed to continue could lead Sani also in a wrong direction, whose implication may only become another subject of contestation between him and his successor.
Lukman also said without any excuse, all of them in APC in Kaduna must take responsibility for the bad situation facing the state and urged Governor Sani to take every necessary step to undertake inventory of the debt of the state and how it was utilised.
The former director general of the Progressive Governors Forum advised that part of what is needed now very urgently is to assess whether there are cases of diversion, which if established should be recovered.
He said, there is the need to come up with new initiatives towards mobilising new resources for the state as resolving the challenge of today’s huge debt burden requires new initiatives beyond what is currently being undertaken.
Lukman stressed the need for Governor Sani to setup a committee to review current challenges and recommend what needs to be done both in the short, medium, and long term.
The former APC national officer also said, without going into details, there are clearly some of the loans running into hundreds of millions of Dollars.
He insisted that the state government must take steps to evaluate these loans and deal with all factors that must have worked against achieving the objectives earmarked for the loans.
“The hard truth also is that Mallam Uba was one of his strongest collaborators in Kaduna State. The reality was that everything Mallam Nasir did during his eight (8) year tenure was endorsed and supported by Mallam Uba.
“Certainly, the decision of Mallam Nasir to anoint Mallam Uba as his successor must have been informed by the consideration of their strong personal relationship. That shortly after taking over, the two friends are falling apart is most unfortunate and only reminds one about what played out between Alh. Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi and Arc. Namadi Sambo between 2007 and 2010.
“These were very close friends and business partners, on account of which Alh. Makarfi anoint Arc. Sambo to emerged as his successor in 2007. Till today, the relationship between the two is still very bad,” Lukman added.
Meanwhile, the suspended APC women leader, Hajiya Maryam Suleiman has said she would stand by her statement on Kaduna debts.
“I stand by my statement that all the debt was supported by Governor Uba Sani as a senator representing Kaduna Central senatorial district at the 9th National Assembly. He is not being fair to former Governor Nasir El-Rufai,” she said.
She however declined comment on her suspension by the APC in the state, saying she only read about it in the news.