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Intrigues ahead of 2019, war merchants responsible for Kaduna crisis, says El-Rufai

By Sunny Ogefere
10 February 2017   |   1:00 am
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has blamed the Southern Kaduna crisis largely on the intrigues ahead of 2019 and the people he described as merchants of crisis.

Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has blamed the Southern Kaduna crisis largely on the intrigues ahead of 2019 and the people he described as merchants of crisis.

Besides, he said that the security challenge that erupted mid last year in the state was not a surprise to his administration as measures were taken proactively but unfortunately was scuttled by mischief-makers.

Speaking in Lagos at a media event, he disclosed that based on intelligence reports available to him it was easy to discern that the jostle for 2019 contributed to the breakdown of law and order.

He said that this is not a snapshot but something that has been there for about 37years, explaining that this is the eleventh of such incidents and that they follow more or less the same pattern.

He denied that it was not religious based and that two out of the eleven incidences were battles between two ethnic groups that were largely Christian communities

“There is a struggle for PDP to change the narratives away from physical development to ethno-religious sentiments,” he claimed adding that there are also those who are already campaigning for the next elections.

According to him, some people want to pull him down because they assumed that he is the President’s right man and think tank and so the way to get at Buhari was to get at him.

“I am in APC because I was in CPC AND I believe in CPC and Buhari … I am not a member of any cabal in the presidency. I am very close to President Buhari, I am his acolytes I a favourite of his but I do not contribute to federal decisions,” he stated.

El- Rufai hinted that in about two weeks time a comprehensive report on the crisis would be released by the government chronicling the crises in the state from 1980, all the interplays including the number of deaths in each of the incidents.

He berated those that tagged the recent Kaduna crisis a genocide saying, “They are claiming it is a genocide … which is a systematic, basic and deliberate elimination of a group. And that is not the case in this instance.”

However, he said he was determined and resolute to ensure that an end is brought to the Southern Kaduna crisis and peace restored to the state.

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