- Governor Nasir El-Rufai has reacted to claims in some quarters that he faked the death of 66 Fulani indigenes on February 15
- Governor El-Rufai said his government condemned attempts to politicise the killings
- The governor also said he is taking steps to reassure affected communities and ensure that perpetrators are arrested and brought to justice
Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has reacted to claims by some people that he fabricated the killings of 66 people of Fulani origin killed in Kajuru local government area of the state on February 16, 2019.
The state government statement came after Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) said the governor’s comment over the Kajuru killings was deliberately orchestrated to inflame ethnic and religious sentiments to produce yet another cycle of bloodshed in the state.
The governor, who spoke through his senior special assistant on media and publicity, Samuel Aruwan, said he would not tolerate people trying to politicise the killings, Vanguard reports.
Aruwan said: "Kaduna state Governor Nasir el-Rufai has visited the scenes of the Kajuru killings. The governor was accompanied on the trip by Major-General Faruk Yahaya, GOC 1 Division of the Nigerian Army; Air Cmdr. I. Sani of Nigerian Air Force; Police Commissioner Ahmad Abdurrahman and state Director of DSS, A.I. Koya. The chairman of Kajuru local government council, Cafra Caino, also joined the governor on the visit.
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“The Kaduna state government notes the concerted and apparently coordinated efforts by bigoted busy bodies to deny the Kajuru killings or to minimise the casualty figures, and the specious arguments being deployed in this despicable quest. The Kaduna state government condemns in the strongest terms attempts to politicise the killings.
“Only irresponsible and insensitive people can recklessly dismiss the deaths of members of a community with whom they have no contact. Private individuals and unelected actors cannot be allowed to reduce weighty matters of state security to the province of their limited networks, inexperienced lenses and narrow agendas.
“The government of a state cannot be detained by parochial, ethno-religious, partisan or electoral calculations from doing its duty to provide security, confirm incidents of security breaches, take steps to reassure affected communities and ensure that perpetrators are arrested and brought to justice.”
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Recall that Legit.ng earlier reported that 66 people lost their lives to attack by gunmen in Kajuru local government area of Kaduna state.
Among the victims are 22 children and 12 women while four wounded persons were said to have been rescued by security agents who were alerted of the attacks.
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Southern Kaduna killings on Legit TV
Source: Legit.ng
