Governor Nasir El‑Rufai of Kaduna State asserted that he has never stolen money from the state government and offered to swear an oath to prove his honesty. In a Hausa‑language interview broadcast on local television and radio, he challenged his predecessors to do the same, warning that he would expose any former governors who had pilfered the state treasury. El‑Rufai emphasized his governance philosophy of integrity and warned that a day of reckoning would come for those who had misused public funds.
He explained that all loans secured during his administration were used solely for the projects they were intended to fund. “The people can see that we executed those projects with the loans we secured. We did not siphon the money to Dubai to buy houses, nor did we build mansions on Jabi Road,” he said. El‑Rufai noted that he entered office with only one house on Danja Street in Unguwan Sarki, Kaduna, and that he still lives in that same residence. “I have completed my tenure, Alhamdulillah…that is my only house. I didn’t build a mansion, and I don’t even need one,” he added.
The governor called on former governors to publicly swear that they have never taken a kobo from Kaduna State. “Wallahi, I am ready to swear. I am challenging them—former governors—to come out, face the people of Kaduna State, and swear that they have never stolen the people’s money,” he declared. He questioned how past officials, whom he described as “neither the children of Dantata nor the children of Dangote,” could afford lavish houses, asking, “Where do they get the money to build those houses? What was their profession?”
El‑Rufai also highlighted the infrastructure achievements of his tenure, particularly the construction of durable, high‑quality roads. “I’m happy that we constructed qualitative roads that will last for years, not the kind of roads built in the past that deteriorate after two rainy seasons,” he said. He outlined his vision for the state: all roads in Kaduna should be tarred, eliminating muddy streets, and every town should have tarred roads and solar‑powered street lights, from Kafanchan and Zaria to all local government areas such as Soba.
Despite these accomplishments, the governor acknowledged that not all development plans were realized due to the challenges his administration faced. “We had to seek loans to execute those projects,” he explained, noting that financial constraints limited the full implementation of his development agenda.
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