Kaduna govt set North back 100yrs by hiring Southern lawyer for El-Rufai's trial — MURIC

Irked by the employment of a southern-based lawyer to prosecute former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai over a N423 billion fraud, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has accused the government of dragging the North back by a hundred years.

The group slammed the Kaduna government for ignoring all the brilliant legal practitioners in the North to pick a lawyer from the South-West for the purpose of prosecuting El-Rufai over the alleged financial scandal.

MURIC’s attack on the Kaduna Government was contained in a statement issued on Saturday, August 17, 2024, by its Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

“We are deeply perturbed by the preoccupation of the Kaduna State Government (KDSG) and its state assembly with the profiling of the immediate past governor of the state, Nasir El-Rufai.

“Most disturbing is the manner the state government ignored all the brilliant minds in the legal profession in the whole North to pick a human rights lawyer from the South-West for the purpose of prosecuting El-Rufai.

“This is a slap in the face of not only legal practitioners in the North but the entire Northern population. It also constitutes a colossal waste of resources as well as an insult and a disservice to the whole North,” Akintola said.

Besides, he noted that the action runs counter to the spirit of recognition for and pride in Northern assets, its people, culture, and values as envisioned and enunciated by great Northern leaders like Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and the political maestro of the North, Alhaji Aminu Kano.

“On our fingers, we can count no less than a dozen legal luminaries nulli secundus of Northern origin. On what grounds were these found unqualified and ineligible? What parameter did KDSG use to pick its prosecutor from a place so far away from the area of jurisdiction of this case?” he queried.

Meanwhile, it would be recalled that the lawmakers in the state indicted El-Rufai for allegedly embezzling the sum of N423 billion from the government treasury during his 8-year tenure as governor.

Also, his former Special Adviser and ally, Jimi Lawal, has been detained and is undergoing investigation by the ICPC over N11 billion after evading arrest.