Former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, has said he was like a prophet he warned about the $350 million World Bank loan request by ex-governor Nasir El-Rufai. Sani said despite his warning, people refused to listen.. Addressing journalists on Sunday, Sani said the state won’t be in such a situation if El-Rufai’s administration had heeded his warning.
He said: “The hour of reckoning has come for every citizen of the state,” Sani said, reacting to the current fiscal challenges in Kaduna. “I was insulted for saying no to that loan. The hour of reckoning is here for every person in Kaduna state. “Just like the way Lot (in the Bible) warned people, prophets of the past warned people, but they refused to hear and then you see petition and affliction.
“In the same way, I warned the people of this state, but they were told that the money will bring paradise — land of milk and honey. “Today, you can see the problems at hand as far as that loan was concerned. “Today the state is strangulated because of that money which we couldn’t pay. “We borrowed $350 million when the naira was N400 to the dollar and we are going to pay when the naira is what it is today,” he added.
Last week, governor Uba Sani has raised an alarm over the state’s huge debt profile running into billions of dollars. In 2018, Sani and two other senators from Kaduna state — Suleiman Hunkuyi, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Kaduna north senatorial zone; and Danjuma Laah of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kaduna south-central senatorial zone — rejected moves by El-Rufai to take a $350 million World Bank loan. Sani and Hunkuyi eventually lost their bids for re-election and were replaced by Uba Sani and Suleiman Kwari who lobbied for the approval of the loan.
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