TheCable

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, says his administration will continue to remove “bad persons” from the government until May 29 when he will leave office.

The governor also vowed to continue to demolish “illegal” structures in the state despite having just eight days left in office.

Speaking on Saturday at the launch of a book about his legacies in Kaduna, el-Rufai noted that he would clean up the system till the last minute of his exit from the state government. 

“Any bad thing we find we will remove so that the next governor does not need to do it again,” el-Rufai said.

“Watch out till the eleventh hour when we shall quit office. We will continue to sack bad persons and remove bad things.”

On Thursday, the Kaduna government revoked the right of occupancy of nine properties belonging to Ahmed Makarfi, former governor of the state, and marked them for demolition.

Also speaking at the event, Nyesom Wike, outgoing governor of Rivers state and guest speaker at the occasion, said el-Rufai is seen as a fearless and outspoken Nigerian. 

Wike said people who can speak truth to power in the country are not easy to come by, adding that only el-rufai dares to do so even to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that he’s a member.

“El-Rufai, for me, is one leader whose greatness defies categorisation,” Wike said.

“Governor el-Rufai embodies character, commitment and hard work. He is bold, courageous and daring with a strong spirit of justice, equity and fairness.

“He is socio-politically assertive and unbending in his loyalty to principles.

“Governor el-Rufai is never known to be a sycophant. I could remember his controversial letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, especially the one written in March 2017, that challenged him to deliver the people’s expectations to avoid falling on the wrong side of history.

“I don’t know how many governors will have the courage to write a sitting president of his party to say, ‘look, do the right thing’ being the expectations of the people so that you will not be on the wrong side of history.

“It takes men of courage and character. No sycophantic person can do it.”

The Rivers state governor donated N20 million at the event while President-elect Bola Tinubu, who was represented by Kashim Imam, former chairman of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), also donated the same amount to support the book launch.