The lawmaker representing Kaduna North Federal Constituency, Samaila Suleiman, has urged the Federal Government to order the arrest of el-Rufai, following a state broadcast where he urged citizens to disregard President Muhammadu Buhari’s speech on cessation of old N1,000 and N500 notes as legal tender.

Suleiman, in a statement, called for stripping of the governor’s immunity and consequent arraignment for alleged treason.

He said: “The illegal, unwarranted and outright treasonable counter order made by el-Rufai on February 16, 2023, via his state-wide broadcast…was an attempt to be clever by half, by portraying that his (el-Rufai’s) outburst was done in the interest of the downtrodden talakawa and the rule of law, which he disdains so much by most of his anti-people policies as governor of Kaduna State.”

The lawmaker added: “This is indeed funny, coming from el-Rufai whom the people of Kaduna State and Nigeria have come to know as a public officer that lacks compassion for the masses. We, the people of Kaduna State and Nigeria, do not and will never suffer collective amnesia.”

“The same el-Rufai, whose second name is ‘Disobedience to Court Orders’, running to the same court he demeans, maligns and holds in extreme contempt! I do not have doubt in the ability of our judiciary to prove its worth, not only to Nigerian citizens but also to the entire world, by restating the famous principle that ‘he who comes to equity must come with clean hands’.

“Both hands of el-Rufai are not only soiled and dirty; they are also filthy, as far as the naira redesign issue is concerned vis-à-vis his track record of disobeying validly obtained court orders.

“In fact, the man el-Rufai does not have the moral right to approach our courts for any remedy, as he has done in this case by approaching the apex court, invoking its original jurisdiction over the currency issue.” (Adapted from a Guardian report)