Noah Ebije, Kaduna

Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has accused Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-rufai, of taking sides in the latest killings in some remote communities in Kajuru Local Government Areas of the state.

Governor el-Rufai had announced less than 24 hours before the commencement of the postponed presidential and national Assembly polls alleging killing of 66 persons in Kajuru.

But in a statement, the national Public Relations Officer of SOKAPU, Yakubu Kuzamani, accused the governor of religious bias, saying, Southern Kaduna people were still at a loss as to the motive behind the governor’s outburst at such a critical period in the history of the country.

After a visit to the scene of the killings at the weekend, El-rufai cautioned the people in the zone against politicising the attacks that claimed lives and property.

The governor’s comments were contained in a statement issued on Sunday by his spokesman, Samuel Aruwan.

But SOKAPU insisted that: “We are of the view that el-Rufai’s comments on the Kajuru killings were deliberately orchestrated to inflame ethnic and religious sentiments to produce yet another cycle of bloodshed.

“SOKAPU has reached out to the various community leaders in Kajuru, including officials of the Adara nation to ascertain what actually happened.

“On Sunday, February 10, 2019, the Adara natives residing in Ungwar Barde in Kufana district of Kajuru Local Government Area came under attack by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen. The attack lasted from 10 pm of Sunday to 4 am of Monday, February 11, 2019.

“By the time the merchants of deaths and destructions were through with their mission, no fewer than 11 lives, including a pregnant woman, were lost. Scores of victims of the attack on Ungwar Barde sustained injuries, with some of them presently receiving treatment at some health facilities in the state capital. We have been informed that the attackers, seven of them in number, were arrested by a team of policemen. Sadly, not a statement was issued by el-Rufai over that gruesome attack on Ungwan Barde.

“Following the Sunday attack on Ungwan Barde, residents of Ungwan Busa and Doruwa located in Kajuru LGA deserted their villages for safety. Presently, the district head of Kufana and four of his village heads, on the directive of the governor, have been summoned to Kaduna and ordered to produce persons behind ‘reprisal attacks’. However, the monarchs have told their interrogators that they were unaware of any ‘reprisal attacks’ and, therefore, unable to identify persons behind such attacks. Apart from the 11 Adara natives that were killed during the Sunday attack, the community leaders have denied knowledge of any attack.

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“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 the 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 favourably disposed to violence.

“We wish to inform Nigerians and the world that it has always been in the character of the governor to promote violence through spreading hate speech for the advancement of his waning political survival. If the governor, who was aware that Adara natives were killed on Sunday, neglected to come public, then Nigerians and the world are well placed to understand the nebulous and evil motives of el-Rufai who once shocked Nigerians on national television that he had paid whopping sums of money to foreign herdsmen involved in attacking communities in Southern Kaduna.

“SOKAPU is calling on the Inspector General of Police and the Director of Department of State Service (DSS) to carry out an independent investigation and tell the world the truth of what actually happened in Kajuru. We are startled that it was the governor and not the police that announced the alleged killings in Kajuru. Let Nigerians and the world know that, should there be any breakdown of law and order in Kaduna state, Governor el-Rufai should be held responsible.

“We wish to appeal to Kaduna State people to remain calm and not react to any form of provocation, including the current attempt to incite ethnic and religious bushfire. We call on our people, comprising diverse ethnic members of various religious persuasions, to be steadfast in our collective resolve to stand together and not allow ourselves to be divided by this divisive governor. We call on men and women of good conscience to condemn el-Rufai’s dastardly antics as he attempts to goad our state down the slippery slope of yet another round of unprecedented crisis.”

According to Aruwan’s statement, “Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai has visited the scenes of the Kajuru killings. The governor was accompanied on the trip by Major-General Faruk Yahaya, GOC 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Air Cmdr. I. Sani of the Nigerian Air Force, Police Commissioner Ahmad Abdurrahman and State Director of the SSS, A.I. Koya. The chairman of Kajuru local government, Cafra Caino, also joined the governor on the visit.

“The Kaduna State government notes the concerted and apparently coordinated efforts by bigoted busybodies to deny the Kajuru killings or to minimise the casualty figures, and the specious arguments being deployed in this despicable quest. The Kaduna State government condemns in the strongest terms attempts to politicise the killings.

“Only irresponsible and insensitive people can recklessly dismiss the deaths of members of a community with whom they have no contact. Private individuals and unelected actors cannot be allowed to reduce weighty matters of state security to the province of their limited networks, inexperienced lenses, and narrow agenda.

“The government of a state cannot be detained by parochial, ethno-religious, partisan or electoral calculations from doing its duty to provide security, confirm incidents of security breaches, take steps to reassure affected communities and ensure that perpetrators are arrested and brought to justice.”