Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i is not to be taken lightly when it comes to fighting terrorism in Nigeria. Not only has been exposed to governance at very critical sectors of our national life at both federal and state levels, what one reads about him in the media suggests that he possess a level of intelligence not common with most of our leaders. In advocating the mowing down of terrorists in Nigeria today as it were, he said:
“They kill people in Sokoto, you mobilise the army there, and chase them out, they move to Kebbi, from Kebbi if they are bombed, they move to Kaduna. What should be done is to bomb them from the air, ground, on the ground at the same time in all five, six states of the North West plus Niger. And this problem can be sorted out in my view, in weeks. I believe the levels of insecurity now are at a tipping point and something is got to give.”
What the governor has been advocating is a policy of no mercy, carpet bombing of all forests occupied by terrorists across the country
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It has been a very controversial call with many commentators agreeing with him while others complain of collateral damage and disagree. Last week, the governor threw yet another bombshell
“The preliminary report of Boko Haram financing also showed some links to bandits and pointed to some police and military officers in service as having some communication or connection with the bandits.
“So, there’s always that risk. In any system you have traitors and we’re concerned about that. But to date, we don’t have any firm evidence of that. I think a lot more work needs to be done.”
But he went ahead to conclude that despite the inconclusive evidence, the resources available to various terror rings is enough to destabilise the country. We elected candidate Buhari because compared with President Jonathan, he had a more impressive record on security issues. The security situation at hand now is more lethal than what we had in the Jonathan era. Even El-Rufai. Who is a die-hard fanatic of the President admits that the terrorists in the Norwest are doing greater harm to Nigeria than Boko Haram did in the North East under Jonathan. Given the damage that has been done to our national economy, politics and communal existence, we wonder what El-Rufai and Buhari are waiting for to take decision to end this state of hopelessness that has encompassed the whole country since 2015 when even Buhari cannot halt the drift. What they should know is that they have some months to complete their 8 year two terms as provided in the constitution. Constructing magnificent edifices as the Kaduna state is doing and infrastructures which the Buhari government is doing will not stop the destabilization plot El-Rufai is talking about. In a destabilized country with hungry, discontented and angry mobs let on the loose, such structures make no sense and could easily be pulled down.
It is good the governor spoke at the weekly Ministerial Briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, within earshot of President Buhari. Some of the statements he made were direct indictment of the Federal government. For instance he said preliminary investigations revealed that some security operatives were working for terrorists. When you consider the fact that all security agencies in Nigeria are under the federal Government, you will then know the weight of El-Rufai’s allegation.
He also said terrorists, especially those involved in banditry and kidnapping, have adapted their crime forms into a business, with a financial turnover, their original trades in cattle breeding could not generate. This a clear case of ethnic profiling which puts him and President Buhari – both of them Fulani men – at the receiving end of the watering can. It should have occurred to the Governor that he was talking to a national audience and not a Kaduna one or even a northern one. To the best of my knowledge, modern day banditry and kidnapping in Nigeria was invented in the South/South but has now assumed a verifiable Federal Character.
An Ikeja High Court recently sentenced kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, popularly known as Evans with his band of collaborators, all Ibo to life jail. Even that naughty criminal from my home State of Taraba, Wadume, is Jukun and not Fulani.
In December 2016 barely one year and some months after he took office as Governor Kaduna State El=Rufai was alleged to have doled out a huge sum of government funds to the terrorists who had been carrying out reprisal expeditions against the Christian community in the southern part of his state. He later confirmed in public, that the allegations were true.
When we compare the conduct and pronouncements of El-Rufia in 2016 and those of today, you can see the contradictions of our fight against terrorism in Nigeria today.
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