Kaduna State House of Assembly on Thursday rejected the
nomination of Aliyu Ja’afaru Abubakar as commissioner for allegedly criticising
the state Governor, Nasir El-Rufai’s policies on the social media.
Abubakar was among those recently nominated by the governor
for appointment as commissioners alongside other nominees who appeared before
the assembly for screening and confirmation yesterday.
But while other nominees were cleared and confirmed, Abubakar
was rejected for allegedly criticising el-Rufai‘s policies, especially in the
education sector on his Facebook page.
Speaker of the assembly, Aminu Shagali, who presided over the
sitting, had asked the nominee why he wanted to serve in a government that he
attacks its policies.
According to Shagali, “You criticised the same administration
which is about to employ you now in one of your posts on Facebook.
”You said there’s nothing good about the education policy, attacked
the governor.
“The governor still chose you based on your merits;
your Curriculum Vitae was chosen among about 10 CVs presented to the governor. Do
you think it’s honourable to accept this nomination and work for an
administration which you think is a bad one?”
The speaker noted that since 2017, Abubakar has been
criticising the education policy of the governor, which according to him, is
one of the best.
Shangali, who quoted some of the Facebook posts of the
nominee, said: “In your Facebook account, you said there is nothing like making
Kaduna State great again, it is a deceptive cliché used by politicians to
deceive the masses; we will make Kaduna great at appropriate time.
“You said it is a responsibility for those who are
truly sincere not for those who are inherently sarcastic. You also said
El-Rufai must learn to tackle issues with human face. You said you are an
advocate of change that goes to the root and cause (of a problem) not only the
symptoms.
"You (the nominee) also said in the same
post: ‘stop comparing me with El-Rufai
who thinks he is more intelligent than intelligence itself’.
"You however said you are a humble human being who
believes that all that glitters is not gold, and that there is nothing
authoritarian in insisting on the truth and never speak the truth.”
Continuing quoting Abubakar’s Facebook posts, the Speaker
said: “You also said you ‘detest insincerity as there are better ways of
genuinely solving problems.”
Abubakar, who was visibly dumbfounded when
confronted with the questions, was
barely given time to defend himself and was unanimously rejected by the Assembly.
In an interview with journalists shortly after the
plenary session, Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Media and Public Affairs,
Tanimu Musa, said Abubakar’s nomination was rejected because he criticised el-Rufai’s
administration.
"The evil that men do lives even after them.
Jaafaru (Abubakar) has been a critic of this administration on social media
“The nominee has been criticising the government, so
why did he want to work with the government you have been criticising before?”
Musa asked.
The Speaker also announced that the Deputy Governor, Hajiya
Hadiza Balarabe, would serve as the acting Commissioner for Health pending the
appointment of a substantive commissioner.
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