I do not share public money – El-Rufai to Dogara

Kaduna  State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has again replied  the House of Representatives and its Speaker Yakubu Dogara over the National Assembly budget controversy.

“I don’t share public funds like you,” the governor told the lawmakers.

He was responding to Tuesday’s double barreled attack on him by Speaker Dogara, who published his pay slips and the House of  Representatives, which accused the governor of distracting the National Assembly and advised him to face Kaduna’s problems.

The House accused El-Rufai of publishing what it called security budget as his security vote, challenging him to publish his personal security vote like the Speaker’s salary’s pay slip.

All efforts to reach the House spokesman, Abdulrasak Namdas, for reaction to the governor’s statement were unsuccessful as he did not pick his calls.

Namdas’ deputy, Jonathan Gaza and the Speaker’ Special Adviser on Media & Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, could not also be reached.

The text messages sent to them were also not replied.

El-Rufai drew the ire of the lawmakers by challenging them to make their budget public. He told his challengers that there was nothing like security votes.

Faulting the legislators ‘unnecessary distraction’s response to a simple request for a transparent National Assembly budget, El-Rufai picked holes in Dogara’s pay slip.

In a statement by his spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, El-Rufai said: “The figures in the pay slips presented for the Honorable Speaker are in stark contrast to the declaration by The Economist regarding the earnings of NASS members. One of the claims cannot be right.”

Insisting that he has no security vote, the governor said: “The Kaduna State Government has presented details of its security budget. What was presented represents the only security vote for the entire government. As the figures show, there is no security vote for the Governor of Kaduna State.

“This may be a shock to those used to the notion of security votes as barely disguised slush funds, but we do not operate such a system in Kaduna.

Reported by The Nation`