STOP INCARCERATING EL-RUFAI LOYALISTS – MURIC tells KDSG

STOP INCARCERATING EL-RUFAI LOYALISTS – MURIC tells KDSG

Zainab Tanimu

Kaduna, Northwest Nigeria

An Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has called on the Kaduna State government and its House of Assembly to stop

incarcerating El – Rufai’s former cabinet members.

The group has described El-Rufai as one of the most brilliant minds the North has ever produced. Advising that Northern leaders in and outside Kaduna take a move in breaking the silence.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Founder/Executive Director of the faith-based civil liberties group,

and circulated on Sunday 2nd March, 2025.

According to the group,

“He is presently the face of the North. We are constrained to advice the North not to destroy itself. The trajectory of KDSG’s actions and inactions tend to suggest this. It is high time Northern leaders in and outside Kaduna break their silence.

“The dust is yet to settle on allegations of political witch-hunting leveled by former cabinet members of the administration of the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.

“The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is miffed that formal requests for certified true copies of the Independent Legislative Report of the Kaduna State House of Assembly on the alleged missing N423 billion which was submitted on 5th June 2024 are yet to be obliged.

“We are disturbed by revelations made by the former cabinet members. For instance, the group has alleged that contrary to the stand of the Kaduna State Government (KDSG) and the House of Assembly, many of the external loans listed in the report were either not drawn at all by the El-Rufai administration or were due for disbursement only after its tenure had ended.

“The group also claimed that the report even listed an external loan for a railway project that was never contracted let alone disbursed. The credibility of that report faces another challenge for listing the $150 million AfDB loan for the Special Agro-Processing Zones (SAPZs) as expended even though the loan had not been disbursed as at May 2023.

“But what concerns MURIC more as a human rights group is the incarceration of members of the former cabinet like Bashir Saidu and Jimi Lawal. Nobody is saying the current administration of Kaduna State and the HoA should not pursue transparency, probity and accountability but in doing so, care should be taken to avoid the violation of Allah-given fundamental human rights as well as strict adherence to respect for the rule of law.

“Keeping suspects in prison after they have been granted bail by courts of competent jurisdiction appears more to us like gunning for political vendetta than seeking accountability. Nigerians are not fools. They know that the target is El-Rufai. But KDSG should tread softly.