Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State says leaders of the volatile Southern Kaduna have been responsible for the killings taking place in the area in recent times.
He claimed that the leaders, who he did not name, perpetrate the killings to blackmail his government into appeasing them.
El-Rufai spoke on a Channels Television programme Sunday Politics.
According to a transcript of the interview published by the station, el-Rufai said that the leaders have no jobs and have been dependent on successive governments in the state for “peace money” in the past 20 years.
The governor said the killings have become prominent in Southern Kaduna in recent times because he refused to dance to the tune of the “greedy leaders”.
“The problem of the Southern Kaduna elites is that they have their own narrative, whether it is true or false, they stick to it. And anyone that says something to the contrary has taken sides, even amongst them. This is one of the problems that frustrated my former Deputy Governor, Architect Yusuf Bala to say ‘I don’t want to be Deputy Governor, I’ll rather run for the Senate’.
“Anyone that is moderate, anyone that is promoting peaceful co-existence between various ethnic groups is considered a sellout. And a Governor like me who does not appease them – because they are used to being appeased; they cause trouble, they organise these killings, and they are invited, their leaders are invited by the Governor, they wine and dine, they are given brown envelopes, that’s what they have been doing for 20 years. And we came into office and said ‘no more’.
“Nobody that does not encourage peaceful co-existence will have access to the Governor or the government house. I have no time for them. I am using the security agencies to carefully map them, and when we accumulate enough evidence, we will get them, put them before a judge. I have no time for nonsense. I will not appease criminals. I will not appeal ideal people who have nothing to do but raise a spectre of genocide so that they can get and so-and-so, so that they can get donations and money into their bank accounts from abroad, instead of standing up and having a profession and a business and earn a living.
“Most of the people saying that have no means of livelihood; they were living off government; governments before us were paying them monies every month as peace money; we stopped it. This is why they say I am taking sides. Whatever they say, I take it. I am the Governor of the state. If I am not abused, who will be abused?” el-Rufai said.
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