Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has denied slapping his Deputy, Barnabas Bala.
The governor said both of them had been good friends since they attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in Kaduna State several years ago.
El-Rufai said he had known his deputy since 1976 at ABU and that nothing had ever led them to fight.
The root of alleged physical combat between El-rufai and Bala was that the Governor and the deputy have been having a cold war over alleged plans by the governor to sack top civil servants in the state.
But El-Rufai, in an interactive session with select journalists, simply laughed over the allegation, saying that the rumour mongers were not intelligent enough.
He said if such incident occurred, there would have been video or photo evidence of the fight by some executive members of the State councils, “because nobody is prevented from entering the meeting with his or her phone”.
El-Rufai said, “I have known Bala Bantex since 1976, I never had an argument with him, I respect his opinions, and each time I travelled out of the country, I make him an Acting governor, he signs documents on my behalf.
“We chair executive council meetings together, we operate like partners, and now people want to create enmity between us. I am of age, I can’t descend so low. This rumour is completely false, it is created to cause division.
“We never discussed retrenchment of workers in the state as claimed by the rumour mongers.
“I have never slapped anyone in my life. I have never argued with Bala, I don’t slap people, I fight people with mouth,” El-Rufai said.
