In reaction to the above article, Chinedum Lawrence Ugwu commented:.
"Mallam Nasir has several tongues for different situations. Is it not the same Mallam Nasir that boldly affirmed paying ransom to bandits?"
MY RESPONSE:
The problem is some people don't know the facts on issues and do not care to know. They just run with anything they are fed and create noise all over the place.
Leadership is about making choices and decisions and taking actions based on facts available and the reality on the ground and having the courage to review and if need be change those decisions and actions for better results.
How does that amount to "several tongues for different situations?"
Meanwhile, be educated on what actually happened. See if it's consistent with your assertion.
👇
December 3, 2016 (one year and six months in office)
(Governor) El-Rufai, speaking to journalists from his Kaduna office, admitted to tracing some violent Fulani herdsmen with alleged grievances to their homelands in neighbouring African territories and paying them to stop the killing of Southern Kaduna natives and the destruction of their communities.
According to a report by Vanguard, the governor said:
“It was when they were moving up with their cattle across Southern Kaduna that the elections of 2011 took place and the crisis trapped some of them. Some of them were from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal.
"Fulani are in 14 African countries and they traverse this country with cattle. So many of these people were killed, cattle lost and they organised themselves and came back for revenge, so a lot of what was happening in Southern Kaduna was actually from outside Nigeria.
“We got a hint that the late Governor Patrick Yakowa got this information and he sent someone to go round some of these Fulani communities, but of course, after he died, the whole thing stopped. That is what we inherited.”
El-Rufai, after having shared the findings made by the (Gen. Martin) Agwai (retd.) committee set up by his administration to address the Southern Kaduna killings, told the journalists that he swung into action.
"We got a group of people that were going round trying to trace some of these people in Cameroon, Niger Republic, and so on, to tell them that there is a new governor who is Fulani like them and has no problem paying compensations for lives lost and he is begging them to stop killing.
“In most of the communities, once that appeal was made to them, they said they have forgiven. There are one or two that asked for monetary compensation. They said they had forgiven the death of human beings, but wanted compensation for cattle.
“We said no problem, and we paid some. As recently as two weeks ago, the team went to Niger Republic to attend one Fulani gathering that they hold every year with a message from me,” the governor said without holding back.
(Punch Newspaper - 29th August 2021)
It is critical to state here that the dynamics then and later (when El-Rufai stood against paying ransom to bandits and said that there were no repentant bandits and bandits ouught to be killed) were not the same. Banditry and accompanying kidnapping for money or ransom were an entirely different kettle of fish.
The Governor understood that, took a stand and stood by it. Unfortunately, many people for obvious reasons of either mischief or ignorance mix up the two.
Make what you may of it, but politics (governance) is local (and dynamic). It is no child's play.
ADDENDUM
The issues, including security issues in Kaduna state and particularly Southern Kaduna axis of the state are well documented and is often pathetic.
Unfortunately and truth be told, those issues, over the decades, have often been misrepresented, especially by outsiders and often manipulated for local and national politics to the detriment of the indigenes.
There is no gainsaying the fact that there is no love lost between the people of Southern Kaduna and other parts of the state. It is characterised by a long history of mutual distrust, suspicion and animosity, which predates most of us who insist on dabbling into it, especially those taking sides. It is something that indigenes of the state have to honestly address, when they are ready, without the undue interference of outsiders who often have hidden intentions.
It is a historical fact that Governor Nasir El-Rufai did not cause any of the numerous challenges and security issues. He inherited them, but as Governor, records show that he committed time and resources to fostering the security of lives, peace and development of the state to the best of his ability within the limitations of his powers.
Many might disagree, for whatever reason(s), but that does not detract from the facts.
Briefly ...
It is on record that as a pragmatic person, on Saturday 29th of May 2015 (the same day he was sworn into office as Governor), Governor El-Rufai convened an emergency security meeting to address the security threats in Sanga Local Government which occurred the same day he was sworn-in.
Furthermore, in a bid to understand the underlying security threats faced by the state, he studied all the reports of past Judicial Commissions of Inquiry which x-rayed remote and immediate causes of violence and one thing was clear - failure to make culprits face the law had enabled a cycle of impunity and crisis.
In his quest for lasting solutions to the frequent attacks on communities in southern Kaduna and in a bid to bring an end to the incessant attacks and reprisals in Southern Kaduna, which spanned from the 2011 post presidential elections to the time he assumed office, El-Rufai as Governor inaugurated the Martin Luther Agwai Peace and Reconciliation Committee.
The committee was tasked with identifying socio-political and economic factors that promote existing conflicts in Southern Kaduna and advice on measures to be taken by Government to address them; exploring ways of finding mutual solutions that engender reconciliation amongst and between communities in Southern Kaduna; and to advice on how the villages and communities of Southern Kaduna would be free from attacks bedevilling it.
Part of the revelations from the retired General Martin Agwai-led committee led to the move to try and find and to engage some herdsmen who were allegedly attacking the area on the excuse of revenge for their cattle and people killed, as narrated above.
One has to try to understand the complexity of an area and of the issues involved, as well as, possess the sincerity of intention, objectivity, openness of mind and impartiality, to be able to effectively weigh in on critical issues.
In spite of the spin that has been put on the actions of El-Rufai around 2016, it is clear to an unbiased mind that all that Mallam El-Rufai did then as Governor was to find a way to end the rampant violence and the abominable killing of indigenes (citizens of Kaduna state) in Southern Kaduna by some external elements who seemed to have become too strong for the security agents to contain.
He did not do so to reward the marauding herdsmen. At least that was not the primary motive or intent, no matter what spin or propaganda anyone wants to put on it. It is always important to put things in their factual, fair and proper context.
I continue to pray that genuine and lasting peace and reconciliation will prevail in that area and the state. That desire should guide everyone else's intervention and commentary - both governments and individual citizens.
©️ Uche Diala
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