The Kaduna State House of Assembly has threatened to take legal action against former Governor Nasir El-Rufai for allegedly calling the lawmakers “stark illiterates.”
The lawmakers described the remark as a defamation of their character.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Henry Marah, stated this on Tuesday at the plenary in Kaduna,
He was responding to allegations made against the Assembly by the ex-governor during a programme on Freedom Radio on Monday.
The chairman said: “I wish to remind the former governor that all the members of the Assembly have met constitutional requirement to contest and win their various elections.
“(This is) enshrined in section 106 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
“The former governor also alleged that the Assembly does not have the capacity to probe his government.
“It is also disheartening to note that the ex-governor is ignorant of the provision of Constitution specifically section 128 and 129 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
“(This) empowers the assembly to conduct investigations on any matter or thing with respect to which it has power to make laws.”
Marah denied the former governor’s allegation that the report of the ad-hoc committee that investigated his government was written by someone else.
He said the Assembly discharged its duties and constitutional responsibilities by carrying out the investigation.
According to him, the former governor remains indicted until the committee report was successfully challenged in court.
He added that all findings of the committee against the ex-governor were in the public domain.
“On the relief of the former Executive Chairman, Kaduna Internal Revenue Service KADIRS, Abubakar Zaid of his appointment, the Hon. Speaker, Yusuf Dahiru, has no powers to hire or fire any appointed officer in the state,” he stated.
The Assembly in June 2024 indicted El-Rufai and some key members of his cabinet for alleged corruption in the awards of contracts and management of both domestic and foreign loans obtained by his time in office.
In a report submitted to the House by the chairman of the ad-hoc committee that probed the government’s financial dealings, Henry Danjuma, the lawmakers pointed to several cases of corruption in the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in Kaduna State from May 29, 2015 to May 29, 2023.