Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has described those doubting that the killings in Kajuru local government area of the State, as grossly irresponsible.
This is even as he has disclosed that latest reports at his disposal revealed that those who lost their lives in what he described as deliberate genocide, have risen from 66 to 130, adding he has named and pictures to back up his claims.
El-Rufai, made the disclosure while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the almost one hour national security meeting in Abuja, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Others at the meeting were Governors Kashim Shettima (Borno) and Jubrilla Bindo (Adamawa) Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali and Interior Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonishakin, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Bruntai, Chief of Air Staff, Sadiq Abubakar, Chief of Naval Staff, Ekwe Abas and the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammad Adamu, Director General for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Abubakar, DG Department of Security Service, Yusuf Magaji Bichi were all in attendance.
El-Rufai said the meeting focused on States with higher than normal security challenges in recent times, which are Kaduna, Yobe, Adamawa and Borno.
He declared that it was grossly irresponsible for anyone to doubt the authenticity of his killings in Kajuru, noting that as the chief security officer of Kaduna State, he did not get his information through telephones calls like others who tried to claim there were no killings or that the numbers of deaths was lower.
The governor stressed that the killings amounted to ethnic cleansing and massacre, which must not be tolerated and punished must be served swiftly to serve as deterrent to others.
El-Rufai said, “I think that anybody that is still questioning whether these attacks took place or not is being grossly irresponsible. I think as the governor of the state, and everyone knows me and my records of public service. I would not be irresponsible enough to stand before the media and say something has happened that has not happened. I don’t work based on telephone calls for rumours.
“As governor of the state, the first thing I receive every morning is a security briefing on what happens in the last 24 hours. That is the first thing I read and I ask questions and I work on the basis of security briefings from the experts, the Garrison Commander, the commissioner of police, the head of the airforce. We have every security agency in Kaduna state and they send me briefings including the DSS. I work only on that basis.
“Anybody that wants to contradict what I said should have superior information and it is impossible for you other than the president of the country to have superior information that I have about my state. So, people are being grossly irresponsible, I don’t know what their agenda is. But I know there is a prevailing narrative in the Nigerian media that only certain lives are more important than others. We see that clearly in the slant of reporting and the denial. The fact that you are still asking me these questions two days after we have proved all doubts that all those people claiming that this didn’t happen, they first said I lied, that it didn’t happen, then they started saying, no, the numbers are not what they are. And now, what we are hearing, the last report we got is that, over 130 people were killed not even 66. And the Fulani leaders are providing the names of all these people, we have the list and we will release it to the press.
“And I don’t want to be groused but we can release pictures of the people killed and how the army had to be there to help bury them two days after they were killed because the bodies were decomposing, but some people are being irresponsible, they are pretending this has not happened because it does not fit their ethnic or partisan narrative. It is totally irresponsible because this can happen to anyone of us. And the day we stop sanctifying human lives, the day we begin to think that one life is more important for headlines than another, this country is finished, because, every human being has equal capacity for good and evil.
“And part of the reason why I went out and was appealing for calm is because I know that those that lost their relations can take the law into their own hands. Unless they see that the government is doing something. This is why you see the CP rushing to court to arraign people to send a message that we are prosecuting those that did this so, don’t take the laws into your own hands. Everyone is capable of retaliation, it is not a matter of pride, in a civilised society, for you to say I can retaliate or I am retaliating or this is a reprisal attack.
“I am surprised that some people even people mention that with pride that these people were killed so, we did the reprisal attacks and they are still walking the streets. We are going to go after them. All these people will face the laws of Kaduna state, I promise you. So, stop saying that people were not killed because it upsets those who lost relations and their livelihood. Lets face the fact and tell each other the truth.”
El-Rufai said that the incidents notwithstanding, the state was ready for the forthcoming elections and that soldiers would be deployed to areas known for constant ethnic tensions and violence during the polls.
“In Kaduna State, we requested for enhanced military presence in particular locations that are either afflicted by rural banditry, these are the local government of Birnin-Gwari/Giwa Angchukwu and areas where there has been a history of either electoral violence or ethno-religious intolerance.
“We have already mapped out local arrangements with the garrison commander and the commissioner of police and we have made adequate arrangements to ensure that every citizen of Kaduna State will be free to vote in an atmosphere of peace and security.
“We got assurances from Mr. President that whatever security assets we need in addition to what is already on ground to ensure peaceful and hitch-free elections on Saturday, those assets will be provided. All we need to do is ask.”
El-Rufai also dismissed allegations that he was deliberately causing battle-ready soldiers to be deployed to parts of Kaduna State where he may not secure votes in view of his picking a fellow Muslim as running-mate in his re-election bid next month.
The Kaduna governor said he and other governors expressed their appreciation to the president over f the significant improvement in security generally, with the attendant notable level of stability, which will ensure that elections will hold in all local government areas in the country, except for two in Borno State.
Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Abdurahman Ahmed, who accompanied el-Rufai to the press briefing, disclosed that three more persons were arrested earlier in the day, in addition to eight nabbed within the week for their alleged involvement in the Kajuru killings.
He said, “We intended prosecuting those arrested today, but as I am talking to you now, we are making more arrests. While on the road coming here this morning, I had eight people arrested already but right now, as I am talking, we got additional three so, we had to go beyond the eight people and more facts are coming out as a result of intelligence that we are gathering. So, we want to do the needful before we take them to court. I think, taking them to court may reach even tomorrow or day after tomorrow.”
On President Buhari’s directive to security agencies on ballot snatching, El-Rufai said those who crying wolf have plans to engage in ballot box snatching.
He said, “Now the question about the military. The president made a statement, he said, if you engage in ballot snatching and so on, he has given the security agencies appropriate orders to deal with you. If you have no such plans, why are you afraid. I intend to go out and vote and go home and when they are ready for counting, I will come out. I have no intention to snatch ballot, so if you put one million soldiers with guns on the street, they will not shoot at me because I have no intention.
“But for the fact people are questioning the president’s stance means that they had an agenda. While some of us are working very hard to put a security infrastructure in place, for free, fair and credible elections, some people are planning something else. And that is why they are all over the place wailing and saying that the President has said this and done that. If you have no have plans to do that, shut up because, if you speak, we will know that that was your plan.”