Ahead of his inauguration as Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai today announced the appointments of key officials of his incoming government.

El-Rufai, in a statement he personally signed in Kaduna, named Malam Balarabe Abbas Lawal as Secretary to the State Government (SSG).

The statement further said that Malam Salisu Suleiman has been appointed Principal Private Secretary, while Mr. Abu Musa Sheyin will serve as Private Secretary to Mr. Barnabas Yusuf Bala, the deputy governor-elect.

The Governor-elect also announced the appointment of Hon. Bala Yunusa as Deputy Chief of Staff (Legislative Affairs) and Samuel Aruwan as his Special Assistant, Media.

The appointments take effect from this Friday, May 29, when the new set of governors as well as a new President will be be sworn-in.

Lawal, a former lecturer, served as Chief of Staff when El-Rufai was Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He was a director in the Nasir El-Rufai Campaign Organization and currently chairs the Kaduna State APC Transition Committee. Lawal had previously taught in the defunct College of Advance Studies, (CAS) now Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria, and at the Administrative College of Nigeria (ASCON), Badagry, Lagos.

Suleiman, the incoming PPS, holds a Ph.D in Public Policy. He has worked in the public sector and the academia.

Sheyin is a former secretary and acting chairman of Jemaa Local Government, among other positions he has held in the public service.

Yunusa, a member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, worked in the Kaduna State APC Campaign Council and is serving on a sub-committee of the Transition Committee.

Aruwan worked as spokesman of the Kaduna State APC Campaign Council in the 2015 elections. He began formal media practice in LEADERSHIP Newspapers, rising to chief of its Kaduna Bureau. Until his appointment, he was heading the Kaduna Bureau of the Blueprint Newspapers Limited.

Meanwhile, the governor-elect has wished the appointees success in their new assignments.

•Photo shows Governor-elect El-Rufai.

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