Governor Nasir El-Rufai has explained the popular statement from the people of Kaduna that say, “people of Kaduna see those from Kano as their slaves”.
The explanation is coming after El-Rufai in his cabinet reshuffle removed his Chief of Staff Muhammed Sani Abdullahi and transferred him.
The governor said this while explaining what transpired between his former Chief of Staff and the former Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi.
Shortly after this, he was redeployed to the Ministry of Budget and Planning Commission as Commissioner.
El-Rufai said those who linked the joke to his cabinet reshuffle do not know how government works.
He also said Mohammed Sani’s appointment as Chief of Staff drew attention to him and placed him under pressure because people thought he was brought to government house for a reason.
“The joke between him and Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi was a historical joke between Zaria and Kano people. As you know, we see the Kano people as our slaves.
“So those who think that the joke between a leader and his servant is what led to one to be removed don’t know the enormity of the problems we are working to address in the state.
“But whatever you do or the government does there are those who will still talk so we are not bothered. I want to assure the people of Kaduna State that we only carried out the reshuffling to strengthen our government to complete its work,” he said.
El-Rufai added that in the past people in the state accused him of not having a Godfather to tell him what to do.
“The elites too in the state complained that I don’t listen to advice. So I’m surprised to hear that it’s my friend that will now tell me what to do or not to do. My friendship with Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi is not a secret, everybody knows what he does in the state.”
“He is the Pro-Chancellor of our State University because he is a professional in that aspect. Secondly, he is the Deputy Chairman of KADIPA. These are the two areas he is assisting us with advice, and again everybody knows Muhammadu Sanusi is a qualified economist and so I only seek his advice on this aspect.
“But not on how I run my government or who will work with me I don’t seek advice from anybody outside my colleagues in the government and we usually sit together to discuss.
“Like the latest reshuffling we did, we sat with the Deputy Governor, myself and Muhamad Sani Abdullahi himself and the Secretary to the State Government, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, to agree on what to do.
“So, we deliberated on who to take back there to the ministry and we couldn’t find anybody better than for him to return to the Budget ministry.
“And if Muhammad Sani Abdullahi is not interested, he would have said so. We discussed these among ourselves. People are only commenting on issues without knowing how government works,” he said.
