Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has responded to growing speculation regarding his relationship with his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai, saying that the future of Kaduna “is more important than El-Rufai.”
Sani gave this response during a TVC news program on Monday, where he disclosed that there are no issues between him and El-Rufai and that their relationship remains “cordial.”
The governor added that there’s nothing wrong with his relationship with El-Rufai, stressing that moving the state forward is more important than him and his predecessor.
“I can tell you there’s no problem between me and my predecessor. Our relationship is very cordial, and there’s nothing wrong with our relationship. What is more important here is moving our state forward,” Sani said.
“I don’t know why you’re also talking about the State Assembly. The State Assembly is also an independent arm of the government. So there’s nothing. Kaduna State is more important than me and my predecessor.”
Sani’s comments come amid speculation about a political rift between the two leaders, as well as accusations from the Kaduna State Government against El-Rufai’s former aides.
One such individual, Bashir Saidu, who served as El-Rufai’s Commissioner of Finance, has been accused of causing financial loss to the state by converting its dollars to naira at below-parallel market rates.
Saidu is also accused of mismanaging proceeds from the sale of 11 government houses.
Last year, Sani disclosed that he inherited a huge debt burden of $587 million, N85 billion, and 115 contractual liabilities from the immediate past administration of El-Rufai, lamenting that the huge debt has eaten deep into the state’s federal allocation.
Speaking on Saturday at a Town Hall Meeting, tagged “The State of Kaduna State,” Sani said the situation is such that the government will have to borrow to be able to pay workers’ salaries.
He claims that the $587 million, N85 billion, and N115 billion in contractual obligations that were “sadly inherited from the previous administration” are part of the debt load.
Kaduna State only gets N3.6 billion after N7.2 billion is deducted for debt servicing, Sani claims.
He said, “What we received from the federal allocation in Kaduna this month was N3.6 billion out of over N10 billion. The sum of N7.5 billion was deducted from our allocation to service debts.
“We cannot pay salaries without borrowing. Our salary bill is N5.2 billion. We will have to borrow N2 billion to be able to pay salaries.”
Sani also disclosed that he had approached President Bola Tinubu for assistance, saying, “I have taken our cry to the President over these deductions. The President told me that the debt of $556 million is a World Bank debt and there is nothing he can do about it.
“He, however, promised to see how he could help us. Some of my governor colleagues have also promised to approach the President to assist Kaduna. In the next three months, we will be collecting N3.6 billion from the federal allocation.”
