El-Rufai: There’s a 37-year History behind Kaduna Crisis
Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, yesterday said the Southern Kaduna crisis is more serious than what many see because there is a 37-year-old history behind it with 11 incidences so far since the first crisis broke out in 1980.
The governor, who spoke at a session
with select journalists in Lagos, identified as the reason the crisis
has not abated for 37 years the fact that governments at different times
did not make a scapegoat of their various inquiries, save for an effort
by the General Ibrahim Babangida-led federal government in 1987.
El-Rufai, who also spoke briefly on the
issue of cabal in the President Muhammadu Buhari government, declared
that there is no government or institution without a cabal of two to
three trusted people with whom decisions are made.
He, however, denied being part of the cabal as being insinuated in certain quaters, classifying the header of the state into three headers; Infrastructure development, security and youth employment of out-of -school students, the governor further broke down the security into three areas namely cattle rustling and rural banditry; growing urban gangs by frustrated young and unemployed people and the third being incessant attacks on communities in Southern Kadun.
According to him, while government has
contained the first two of the security challenge considerably because
it could understand their bases, the crisis in Southern Kaduna; has
proved recalcitrant because it is not only 37 years old, but also
because there are constantly religious, ethnic and political slants to
it. The elements of religion, ethnicity and politics, he further said,
have made it very difficult to tackle for obvious mischief of those
stoking the crisis.
But in taming the Southern Kaduna
crisis, the governor said his government had come up with a
three-pronged approach of first stabilising the place, enforcing an
enduring prosecution process and building a lasting peace.
While there is a subsisting 24-hour
curfew imposed on the town with steady helicopter surveillance system to
stabilise the place, government is gradually taking many of the
identified culprits to court, where they are meant to face stiff
prosecution and a conscious effort to reunite the people through
constructive engagement for lasting peace.
Already, he said the federal government,
as part of the peace initiative, had approved two military garrisons –
one in Southern Kaduna and the other in Kachia – adding that a
foundation of one had already been laid recently, in addition to heavy
combined security deployment.
He said the current crisis started
post-2011 general election, won by former President Goodluck Jonathan,
and that a former governor of the state, the late Patrick Yakowa had
figured this and addressed it through negotiation and compensation but
his untimely passing resuscitated the internal strife.
“It usually starts with a dispute
between two people with different ethnic and religious backgrounds. They
don’t get resolved. It is mostly ethnic and not religious…We are ready
for this. We will prosecute at least once in our four years. We did a
lot to contain this.
“There is no peace without justice and
no justice without a foundation of law and order. Our problem is that we
appease criminals and negotiate with them. But that has to stop. There
must be sanctions and rewards; stick and carrot. But we use the carrot
the most,” adding that the crisis is also neck deep in a lot of politics
ahead of the 2019 elections.
The complication of the Southern Kaduna crisis, he argued, is further defined by the fact that the Fulanis exist in about 14 African countries and have the unrestricted rights of cross-border migration as sanctioned by the ECOWAS.
On the issue of cabal, he didn’t pretend
about it because he thought it is a norm in governments and
corporations, saying it is a natural instinct that people in the
position of authorities share their thought process with a few they
could trust and that it is such idea mischief makers tag as the cabal
system.
“There’s always a cabal. In every
government or institution, there are always two or three people you can
trust with whom you take decisions. So, there’s always a cabal. But the
issue is whether the cabal is a positive or negative one. However,
whether I am a member of the cabal, the answer is no. My primary
assignment is Kaduna,” he said.
He alluded to other efforts of the government in the area of infrastructure development.
For instance, el-Rufai said his administration is striving hard to catch up with other Northern states that have left it behind many years ago, even though Kaduna gave birth to them and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
For instance, el-Rufai said his administration is striving hard to catch up with other Northern states that have left it behind many years ago, even though Kaduna gave birth to them and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
With a major focus on education, which
accounts for about 35 per cent of the 2016 and 2017 budgets and which
has seen to a significant boost in school enrolments, the governor said
he has been laying solid foundation for governance in the state.
Apart from the situation in Southern
Kaduna, which El-Rufai claimed is being contained considerably from all
angles, other forms of insecurity like kidnapping, robbery and gang wars
have equally been decimated with a determined and effective security
team he instituted.
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