Defence Minister Christopher Musa Accuses El-Rufai of Deliberately Planning Southern Kaduna Killings

The Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, has accused former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai of deliberately planning the killing of people in Southern Kaduna during his administration and creating deep divisions that made it difficult for residents from different parts of the state to live freely together.

In a statement during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Thursday, the Defence Minister alleged that El-Rufai’s tenure created a “toxic” atmosphere in Kaduna State, dividing the state along religious and ethnic lines.

“El-Rufai did a lot of terrible things in Kaduna State. He divided the country, the state, into two. In that, if you are from the south, you cannot go to the north to live. Those ones from the north were moving to the south,” Musa said.

Musa commended the current Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, for making deliberate efforts to unite residents and rebuild trust across the state within just one year in office, although he acknowledged that the reconciliation process was not yet complete.

“You see, now everybody is free, everybody has a say. It’s not 100%. Let me tell you, it’s not 100%, but you can see that he’s making deliberate effort in uniting the state,” Musa stated.

The Defence Minister was responding to questions about the lingering feelings of Southern Kaduna residents towards the former governor. He said describing them simply as unhappy would not adequately capture their sentiments, alleging that El-Rufai had deliberately orchestrated the killings in the region.

“Well, I don’t know if unhappy is an issue. I think if there’s anything worse than unhappy, we can never be happy with somebody who has deliberately planned for the killing of our people,” Musa said.

Musa further claimed that El-Rufai had openly spoken about paying bandits and did not hide the actions taken by his administration to address insecurity in the state.

“I mean, when you look at it, if you look at his videos, you know, his speeches, he was very proud of what he did. He told us he paid bandits. He told us he did this, he did that. He didn’t hide it. He was that arrogant to come out and tell people that this was what he did,” Musa alleged.

The minister said the security situation in Southern Kaduna under the current administration was significantly different from what residents experienced previously, adding that the scale of killings recorded during El-Rufai’s tenure could not be compared with the present situation.

“The Southern Kaduna people are still very pained. Of course, definitely. I mean, if you look at the number of killings that was done there and what is going on now, you can’t compare at all,” Musa said.

Musa also accused the former governor of denying opportunities to some residents and using his influence to demolish properties of those with whom he had personal disagreements, including people from his own part of Kaduna State.

“I can tell you what he has done to people living in Kaduna from his own area. He did a lot of things that I’m sure even him is not proud of,” Musa added.

The Defence Minister concluded by urging Nigerians to reject politicians who attempt to gain political advantage by exploiting religious, ethnic or other differences, describing such individuals as enemies of the state.

“We should get politicians that want to unite Nigeria. For me, any individual who is using either religion, tribe, creed, or anything to divide the state can never be a friend; can never be somebody we look up to,” Musa said.

“We shouldn’t have those kind of ones in government. Anybody who is using religion or tribe or whatever to divide Nigeria is an enemy of the state,” he added.