Last Saturday, the petit enfant terrible that governed Kaduna State for eight years, from 2015 to 2023, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, raised alarm that his successor, Governor Uba Sani, whom he called his godson, was responsible for the political violence that marred a rally he organized to foster the opposition parties in the state. According to media reports, thugs invaded the ceremony, for the official inauguration of the transition committee, jointly set up by opposition parties in the state. El Rufai accused the state governor of sponsoring terrorism.
While not sympathetic to El Rufai considering his past records, this column condemns all forms of political violence. But we must recall that as governor of Kaduna State, El Rufai ruled like a sovereign potentate, and he treated his victims worse than subjects. The former governor confessed that he paid cross-border herders from neighbouring countries to stop killings in southern Kaduna, instead of bringing them to account. According to him, he told his emissaries to inform the criminals that one of their own, a Fulani, the late President Muhammadu Buhari, had become the president and they should stop the killing.
But did the killings stop? It didn’t. In fact, it got worse, and instead of showing empathy to the victims, he criminalized them, and made them look like the aggressors. He framed the killings as reprisals and revenge attacks, especially in Kajuru and Kachia local government councils. But interestingly, since Governor Uba Sani took over, the killings have stopped, and even markets closed for many years have been reopened. So what could have led to the return of peace in the communities after the exit of the former governor?
While the crisis lasted, many indigenes of the affected communities viewed El Rufai as an enabler of the crisis. The Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) on the eve of the 2019 general election raised such alarm. In February, 24 hours to the 2019 polls, they said “The attention of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has been drawn to a report credited to Governor Nasir Ahmad El Rufai over alleged killing of 66 Fulani in Kajuru Local Government Area.”
They went on: “We are at a loss as to the real motive behind the governor’s disclosure, made public less than 24 hours before the commencement of national polls that were postponed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).” They continued “We are of the view that El Rufai’s comments over Kajuru killings was deliberately orchestrated to inflame ethnic and religious sentiments to produce yet another cycle of bloodshed.” The leaders accused El Rufai of lying about any killing of Fulanis, and accused him of being silent about the actual killing of Adara natives in Ungwar Barde, in Kufana District of Kajuru Local Council.
The leaders didn’t spare the former governor. In their words “Arising from the above, SOKAPU is shocked at the deliberate falsehood by El Rufai who found it convenient not to inform the world of an earlier attack that claimed lives of 11 Adara natives. SOKAPU is convinced that Governor El Rufai is on an irrevocable journey of inflaming ethnic conflagration that has always been in line with his deliberate chronicle of profiling Southern Kaduna people as favorably disposed to violence.”
The group claimed that El Rufai was instigating the crisis for political gains. While on one of his visits to the scene of the killings, El Rufai promised to set up a judicial panel of inquiry, which he later did after several months, and sounded sympathetic. He said “It is very sad that people that had lived together side by side for hundreds of years have suddenly started killing one another.” He went on “It is not in our culture, our religion to permit anyone to kill. All those who engage in these are not godly people but godless people, they are neither Muslims nor Christians.”
Hearing El Rufai sound sanctimonious, one would think that his regime was driven by fairness while he governed the state. That indeed, he had regards for all citizens of his state, regardless of their tribe or faith. But far from that, El Rufai governed the state as a very divisive person, who cared more about winning election at all cost. While justifying his choice of a fellow Muslim as deputy, when all previous governors had shown concern for religious plurality in the state, he spoke derogatorily about the people concerned.
Speaking to Channels Television, el-Rufai said “what if I tell you that no matter who I choose as my running mate, even if I choose the Pope, 67 per cent of Christians in Southern Kaduna have made up their minds that they will never vote for me.” Clearly el-Rufai was a very reckless and insensitive fellow, who cared not, whose ox was gored. Yet by some accounts, the Christian population is about half of the population in the state.
In the eyes of the law, El Rufai can be properly prosecuted for aiding and abetting terrorism while he was governor of Kaduna State. Some of his opponents who are of the same faith with him, suffered similar abuses like southern Kaduna Christians. Renowned activist and former senator Shehu Sani, calls El Rufai a very divisive fellow, and he believes that the state is safer since his tenure ended. He accused the former governor of engaging in mass sackings, property demolitions and flagrant disobedience of court orders.
Shehu Sani, wrote El Rufai off, as a “midget professor” and said that “out of power, he is sanctimoniously preaching democracy to the country he helped to wreck, plundered, and persecuted”. He went on: “He demonized the opposition when in the palace and now embraces them in the wilderness.” No doubt, El Rufai is a shifty politician, when it comes to loyalty. He was brought to limelight by former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, but when it suited him, he aligned with former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to persecute his former benefactor.
When last week, El Rufai accused his successor of sponsoring terrorism, many waited for a bombshell of evidence. Rather, he said he would submit the evidence to the police if given the chance. One hopes it is not his usual bluff, otherwise why would he wait to present the evidence before the court of public opinion. If he could make such a weighty allegation, without waiting for police investigation, he ought to present his evidence bare, without hesitation.
The people of Southern Kaduna, and others, who bore the brunt of several alleged terrorist acts, linked to the ill-tempered governance of El Rufai, as Kaduna State governor, must be amused that the hunter has become the hunted. They would call it, his just dessert. It is also alleged that his poor records as governor, made President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, drop him as a ministerial nominee. Clearly, El Rufai will still pay a lot more price for his time in power as Kaduna State governor.
Credit:The Nation