El-Rufai Sacks His Political Adviser, 18 Others

John Shiklam

The Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has sacked 19 of his political appointees, including Mr. Ben Kure, his political adviser.

A Government House statement issued yesterday in Kaduna said the 19 appointees are the first phase of public servants disengaged in continuation of ‘rightsizing’ of the state government workforce.

Besides Kure, other top aides disengaged included two Deputy Chiefs of Staff and several Special Assistants.

Those affected, according to the statement, included Bala Yunusa Mohammed, deputy chief of Legislative Staff (DCOSL); Halima Musa Nagogo, special assistant to DCOSL; Umar Abubakar, another special assistant to DCOSL; Mustapha Lynda Nyusha, Jamilu Gwarzala Dan Mutum, and Umar Haruna, who served as special assistants political.

Those sacked also included Special Adviser Social Development, Zainab Shehu; Stephen Hezron, Mohammed Bello Shuaibu, Senior Special Assistant Stakeholders Relations, and Aliyu Haruna, senior special assistant on Youth Affairs, among others.

Also on the list are Halima Idris, special assistant, Creative Arts; Aliyu Alhaji Salihu, director-general, Public Procurement Authority; Ashiru Zuntu, special assistant, Community Relations, and Saida Sa’ad, a senior special assistant.

Others are Special Assistant Programmes, Elias Yahaya, and Special Assistant to the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Tasiu Suleiman Yakaii; Special Assistant on Economic Matters, Samuel Hadwayah, and Senior Special Assistant Environment, Ahmed Mohammed Gero.

The statement said the 19 disengaged staff members are the first phase of public servants who will depart the public service in continuation of the rightsizing programme of the state government workforce.

The statement said: “El-Rufai thanked the departing officials for their services to the state, and wished them well in their future endeavours.”

The state government had earlier sacked thousands of workers, saying its dwindling resources are being overstretched by a huge wage bill without corresponding increase from the Federation Account Allocation (FAC).

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) had protested recently against the sacking of the civil servants in the state, saying the government did not follow due process in disengaging the workers.