Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Kaduna State chapter of the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) has revealed that its plans to drag Governor Nasir El-Rufai to court over killings in southern Kaduna were discouraged by political leanings of its lawyers.
Guest Speaker at the grand finale of the association’s four-week prayer protest, Apostle Emmanuel Kure and General Overseer of Throne Room Trust Ministry, Kafanchan, disclosed that he suggested court action against the governor when the crisis started but politics crept into the discussion.
“We had a meeting where I suggested court action against the governor over killings in southern Kaduna, and before I knew it, I began to hear political answers.
“It became All Progressive Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) issues; if we engage a lawyer that is loyal to APC, he will do government bidding and we will lose the case. Likewise, if we engage a lawyer that is sympathetic to PDP, he may go emotional and insult the government so much that we will lose the case.”
Apostle Kure called on lawyers of southern Kaduna extraction to help the zone fight for its fundamental human rights.
He advised them not to succumb to temptation of eating the crumbs and sell their father land to strangers.
“We need strategic leaders in southern Kaduna, where are our lawyers? I heard the other day that some of them saying they can no longer work Pro bono (free of charge).
“On many occasions, I have to contact my lawyer friends in Lagos and other part of the South to render me legal services because our own lawyers from southern Kaduna said they can no longer work pro bono.
“If we had started challenging the government in court, these killings would have stopped. I think we need a rethink and begin to take our case to court whether we right or wrong, let the case last till 2025 we will come out of it. This is the most auspicious time in the history of Southern Kaduna. So prayers to God is our weapon and to end the killings.”
Apostle Kure disagreed with Governor El-Rufai who had once said that infrastructural development would continue to elude southern Kaduna as long as there was no peace.
“The same governor El-Rufai is constructing a dual carriageway to Laduga, a fulani settlement. Is Laduga not in part of southern Kaduna?” the cleric asked.
He told the governor that the people of southern Kaduna were capable of developing the zone by themselves.
Former military governor of old Rivers State, General Zamani Lekwot (retd), former Chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), General Martins Luther Agwai (retd) as well as former Minister of State for environment, Lauretta Mallam were among personalities that attended the occasion.
Members of the congregation who were dressed in white attires as a mark of peace, prayed fervently against reoccurrence of the killings, and pleaded with God take over the battle on behalf of the people.