Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, in this interview with State House correspondents after a crucial security meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, maintains that the level of security challenges in Kaduna, Adamawa and Borno states will not preclude the forthcoming elections in the affected states. JONATHAN NDA-ISAIAH was there for LEADERSHIP Friday.
On meeting with President Buhari and security Chiefs?
The meeting was to focus on the states that have higher than average security challenges than others. Four state governors were invited, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa and Kaduna.The North-east states for obvious reasons because of the history of Boko Haram insurgency. For Kaduna State, because of the recent crisis afflicting parts of the state. The governor of Borno State submitted a comprehensive brief on the situation in Borno and Yobe states for which he is very familiar having been on the seat for eight years. The governor of Adamawa State presented a situation report regarding Adamawa and I submitted a briefing based on what has been happening in Kaduna State in the last few weeks and months.
We noted the significant improvement in the security situation across our states in spite of the challenges and we thanked the Federal Government for making available the security assets to the states any time we needed them which has led to some level of stability of the situation.
Across the states we are ready for elections, we do not believe that the level of challenges will preclude elections not taking place all over our states. Of course, in the case of Borno state other than one or two local governments that may vote outside of their immediate domain, every voter in Borno state will vote in his or her local government area compared to the situation in 2015 that some voters in the state had to vote in Maiduguri. This is not the case this time. In Adamawa state, apart from Madagali that is close to Sambisa, there have been no major challenges. Even there, with enhanced security presence, we are confident that there will be no problem at all conducting elections.
In Kaduna State, we requested for enhanced military presence in particular locations that are either afflicted by rural banditry, these are the local governments of Birnin-Gwari and Giwa 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 to ask for them.
How many arrests have been made so far are the suspects being prosecuted? plus,
Yes, some arrests have been made and according to the last security briefing I got which was on Monday, those arrested are going to be arraigned before the court. The arrest continues, the more the police dig into this matter, the more it is clear that there was a deliberate plan to wipe out certain communities. It is not accidental or spontaneous, it is a plan, it is akin to genocide. The more the police dig into the matter, the more arrests will be made and the suspects prosecuted.
Is there any political undertone to the crisis?
I don’t know if there is a political undertone. For me as the chief security officer, a crime is a crime, whether it is political or not. When you kill someone, my primary job is to prosecute you for homicide, when you destroy property it is my duty to prosecute you, if you are engaged in hate speech, it is my duty to ensure you are prosecuted for injurious falsehood and incitement. That is it. We are not looking at undertones, people can attribute political motives to it but as a government we do not have such luxury.
What do you think about those raisingdoubts about the killings?
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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 or 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 than 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 that 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 Commissioner of Police 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’m retaliating or this is a reprisal attack. I’m surprised that some people even people mentioned 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.
What is your take on President Buhari’s instruction to security agencies to be ruthless with ballot box snatchers?
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 box, 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 that 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 plans to do that, shut up because, if you speak, we will know that was your plan.
