Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has accused the three senators representing the state of working against a World Bank loan request by the state government, saying they are useless and ignorant.
The governor made the comment on Friday, five weeks after the senators — Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central), Sulieman Hukunyi (Kaduna North), and Danjuma Leah (Kaduna South) — blocked a $350m loan request by the Kaduna government, according to a report by The Cable.
The state had sought to get the facility from the World Bank but the federal lawmakers said the loan would erode the economic viability of the state.
But el-Rufai, while speaking at the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress’ campaign for the local government election in the state at the Kaduna Township Stadium, described the lawmakers as the enemies of democracy.
The governor, who spoke in Hausa, told the thousands of people at the venue that the senators conspired to stop his government from obtaining the loan to build infrastructure and develop the state.
He said, “The senators from the state who worked against the World Bank loan are useless; they came out and said this loan should not be given. What is their reason for rejecting the loan? It is because they are haters of the masses in Kaduna State.
“If a road project is initiated in your town, they don’t want it to be completed. If we start renovating a hospital, they don’t want it to be completed. If five schools are renovated and 10 are remaining, they will not want the remaining 10 to be renovated.
“Today, there are no haters of the masses of Kaduna State like Shehu Sani, Suleiman Hunkuyi and Danjuma Laah, God will curse them. God will reward their wickedness against the masses, may God never bless them. All members of the House of Representatives from this state, God bless them, may God return them to their seats in 2019.
“Members of our state (House of) Assembly who gave us their cooperation before the World Bank approved the loan to us, may God bless them and may God return them to their seats in 2019. But those ones that are cursed, if they come to Kaduna, shave their heads and beard. They have shown that they are bastards, they have no origin, therefore, it is important to tell them that they did not originate from this state.
“If the time for election comes, answer them with votes, show them that you don’t like them… Let them go back to where they come from. Let them go to the people they are working for to vote for them.
“I want my people to comprehend the simple logic that the three senators representing my state at the Senate are starkly ignorant of the real indices of development and progress in a democratic setting.”
El-Rufai also said his administration had invested considerably in electronic voting because he believed that votes must count during elections.
