I’ve no time for criminals in Southern Kaduna – El-Rufa’i

The heat generated by the ongoing killings in Southern Kaduna, Kaduna state is far from abating as Governor Nasir El-Rufai said he doesn’t have time for criminal elements fomenting trouble in the area.

The governor also declared that his administration would not appease trouble-makers seeking attention to get money into their accounts from both the government and foreign institutions.

El-Rufai had severally being accused by some Southern Kaduna leaders of taking sides in the conflicts between various ethnic and religious groups in the area.

Dismissing them however, the governor, while featuring on a Channels Television programme, “Sunday Politics,” said the crisis rocking Southern Kaduna has a 40-year history, with efforts by the past and present governments in the state to bring about peace to the area.

 Declaring his stand, the governor said: “I have no time for nonsense. I will not appease criminals. I will not appease idle people who have nothing to do but to raise a spectre of genocide. They do that to get money into their bank accounts and get donations from abroad instead of standing up.”

“Anyone that is moderate, anyone that is promoting peaceful co-existence between various ethnic groups is considered a sell-out. And a governor like me, who does not appease them because they are used to being appeased, they cause troubles, they organise these killings and then, their leaders are invited by the governor, they wine and dine and they are given brown envelopes. That’s what they have been doing for 20 years.

“And we came into office and we said no more, nobody who does not encourage peaceful co-existence will have access to the governor or the Government House. I have no time for them. I am using the security agents to carefully mark them and when we accumulate enough evidence, we will get them and put them before a judge.”

He further said: “Most of the people saying that have no means of livelihood; they were living off the governments. The governments before us were paying them money every month, they called it peace money. We stopped it. This is why they say I am taking sides. Whatever they say, I take it. I am the governor of the state. If they don’t abuse me, who will they abuse?”

SOKAPU replies gov

      In a reaction, National President Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) Jonathan Asake said El-Rufai is the most divisive governor Kaduna state has ever had.

Describing him as being more of a dictator than a democrat, the Southern Kaduna leader said the governor has total hatred and disrespect for the people of  the area.

“It’s most unfortunate that we have a governor who every time he has opportunity to talk to the public, he will use that opportunity to insult the sensibilities of people who elected him as governor.

“El-Rufai behaves more like a dictator than a democrat. He has total hatred and disrespect for the people of Southern Kaduna. He insults our elders, religious leaders, traditional rulers and political leaders and he has continued to blackmail them.

“I don’t know what we did to him to deserve all these. He is the most divisive governor Kaduna state has ever had who does not know how to manage diversity.

“Little wonder the then Senate Committee on FCT under the chairmanship of Sen. Abubakar Sodangi, after reviewing his actions as Minister of FCT, said el-Rufai is unfit for public office by his utterances, actions and inactions.

“He politicises and manipulates the people, he divides the people along ethnic and religious lines. El-Rufai accused Southern Kaduna people that we are bigots but he is a bigger bigot by every action.

“He should remember he would be governor like others before him and then he would leave and other governor would be there. He should respect our elders and the people of Southern Kaduna,” Asake said.

Name names, gov tasked

Also throwing a challenge at the governor, Apostle Johnson Suleman, Senior Pastor of Omega Fire Ministries asked El-Rufai to name the names of the leaders or keep quiet and fix the mess.

 “Just heard the Kaduna governor say some elites in Kaduna want ‘brown envelopes’, that’s why they are fanning the embers of war.

“If you are sure of your claims, mention their names so we drag them on this street. If not, keep quiet and fix the mess. Enough of the bloodshed,” the governor tweeted Monday.

Council of Imams

 And further to this, the Kaduna state Council of Imams and Ulama has urged Christians in Southern Kaduna to stop killing innocent Muslims if they want to avoid reprisal that would keep prolonging the crises in the area.

The Islamic scholars equally called on peace-loving Christians in the Southern Kaduna axis to join hands with peace-loving Muslims to engage criminal elements in the area to end the killings and restore peace back to the area. 

 It also called on government to bring to book the perpetrators of previous killings of innocent Muslims in the area to deter others with intention of such dastardly acts.

Addressing the media Monday at the Jama’atu Nasril Islam national headquarters, Kaduna, the group’s secretary general, Sheikh Yusuf Arigasiyyu said over 100 innocent Muslims were recently killed in Zango Kataf local government area without being reported.

He also claimed hat over 1,000 Muslims were killed in Southern Kaduna in 2011 without justice being meted out to the perpetrators.

Flanked by the group’s chairman and publicity secretary,  Arigasiyyu said: “Unless the Southern Kaduna Christians restrain from killing innocent Muslims living in the area which belongs to all of them, there can never be lasting peace as no one has monopoly of violence.

“The Christian criminal elements of Southern Kaduna find it fascinating to mercilessly kill indigenous Muslims neighbours at will, including the passers-by travelling along such areas without being arrested or sanctioned by government or any security agents and yet cried loudly for support from their evil like minds elsewhere.

 “The killings are being covered by those media outfits, who will always prefer to change the narrative in solidarity with their faith and ethnicity. It is still fresh in our memory that more than 1,000 Muslims were killed and their property worth billions of naira were destroyed and their land confiscated under the watch of the then Governor of Kaduna state, Mr Patrick Yakowa in which the current CAN chairman was part of the government in 2011.

 “Neither CAN nor any organization or individual is talking of justice for these defenseless Muslims that were massacred by the same Southern Kaduna Christians. Even when more than 300 innocent Muslims including women and breastfeeding babies were slain by the same Christian militias in Kajuru between 2018 to 2020, the story was the same as no single report was carried out from some of the so called human right journalists or activists.

“It is clear that some individuals and groups in Southern Kaduna are good in inciting and propagating violence in the area in order to make cheap popularity and to achieve their political interest. Unless the Southern Christians restrain from killing innocents Muslims living in the area which belongs to all of them, there can never be lasting peace as no one has monopoly of violence.

 “However, in the spirit of peaceful and cordial relationship, this council is urging the peace loving Christians in Southern Kaduna and Nigeria at large to engage the criminal elements in Southern Kaduna with the view to desist from the wanton killing of their innocent Muslims neighbours for peace to rein permanently in the area, as violence never brings development and progress in any community.

“On the part of the government, this council still insists that the perpetrators of the killings of peace loving Muslims in Southern Kaduna must be brought to book and punished to serve as deterrents to other intending criminal elements, while the council is urgently waiting for the white paper committee to conclude and forward their report to the Kaduna state government for its necessary action and implementation,” the Council said

 Punish perpetrators – CAN

 Meanwhile, President Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Reverend Samson Olasupo Ayokunle has expressed the body’s readiness to partner the Kaduna state government to put an end to the Southern Kaduna crises.

 Speaking at the Council Chamber of Sir Kashim Ibrahim House during a courtesy call on the governor Monday, Ayokunle said  the crises predate the present administration, while urging the state government to find a lasting solution to the crises by learning “from the past in order to draw a roadmap for the future.”

 “The continuing crisis has made people to tag it religious or ethnic because it has given them room to  say whatever they are saying. Government should bring the killers who are variously referred to as ‘unknown gunmen’’ to book. The  rate of  prosecution so far,  is not proportional with the frequency of attack.

“Whoever attacks first and whoever is doing reprisal are both criminals that must be made to face the wrath of the law. The Christian Association of Nigeria is ready to partner with your government and security agents in finding a solution to this matter. Let there be a roundtable discussion and a pledge of cooperation rather than confrontation,” he added.

Responding, Governor el-Rufai expressed sadness by the loss of lives in a totally unnecessary frenzy of communal attacks, reprisals and revenge.

He welcomed the visit of the CAN leadership and promised to consider the eight recommendations made by the body  for implementation.

‘’While we mourn the dead, our immediate focus remains to stop the cycle of attacks and reprisals. We remain committed to ending the legacy of violence that has blighted the state for 40 years. Part of the false narrative of the history of violent conflict in Southern Kaduna is the loose use of terms like land-grabbing and genocide. They are being used in this current cycle of conflict, just as they were in the 2016/17 and the 2011/2015 cycles, “ the governor said.

The governor challenged anyone to characterise or differentiate the communal clashes, attacks and killings in parts of Northern and Central Kaduna state, as well as in Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Niger states from those in Southern Kaduna.

“Is it because in all the other cases, the victims are lesser humans or lacking in voice and media hype? What happened to our common humanity? Government has been consistent in saying that beyond boots on the ground, military bases and police stations, the ultimate guarantee of peace is the willingness of communities to live in harmony and their resolve to settle differences through lawful means.

 “Some people do not want to hear this because it imposes responsibilities on individuals and community leaders to keep the peace and obey the law, but it is the civilised way to go,” el-Rufai said.

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