Former governor of Kaduna State Nasir El-Rufai has filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit against Kaduna State House of Assembly over claims that his administration plunged the state into debt and embezzled N432 billion.
El-Rufai appeared in person on Wednesday to file the lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Kaduna, according to a statement by his media aide Muyiwa Adekeye.
The ex-governor said the Kaduna Assembly ad hoc committee which made a report accusing him of corruption also denied him fair hearing.
Chairman of the ad hoc committee Henry Zacharia said the loans secured during El-Rufai’s tenure were largely misused, and in some instances, proper procedures were not followed in obtaining them.
The controversial report was submitted to the assembly in June.
Adekeye said, “His lawyer, AU Mustapha SAN, said that El-Rufai approached the court as a Nigerian citizen who is entitled to be given a fair hearing before his rights can be determined by a quasi-judicial or investigative body or courts in line with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
“El-Rufai also asked the court to declare that by the provisions of Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the Report of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Investigation of Loans, Financial Transactions, Contractual Liabilities and Other Related Matters of the Government of Kaduna State from 29 May 2015 to 29 May 2023, as ratified by the Kaduna State House of Assembly, is unconstitutional and therefore null and void for violating his right to fair hearing as guaranteed under the Constitution.”
