“El-Rufai Did A Lot Of Terrible Things In Kaduna” – Defence Minister Musa

The Minister of Defence Christopher Musa has accused former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai of “doing a lot of terrible things in the state”.

Musa made the allegation during an interview with Channels Television on Thursday, claiming that El-Rufai created a situation where residents from northern and southern Kaduna were reluctant to live in each other’s areas.

According to him, people from southern Kaduna could not freely move to the northern part of the state, while some residents from the north relocated to the south.

He said, “El-Rufai did a lot of terrible things in Kaduna state. He divided 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.

“I mean, you can’t imagine that in the country. The country that is supposed to be one. But Governor Uba Sani, within one year, has been able to dissolve all that.

“You see now, everybody is free. Everybody has a say. It’s not 100 percent, let me tell you; it’s not 100 percent. But you can see that he’s making deliberate effort in uniting the state.”

The defence minister also claimed that people in southern Kaduna were still unhappy with El-Rufai because of his alleged handling of insecurity and killings in the area.

“If you look at his videos, 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 said.

Despite his criticism, Musa said he did not regard the former governor as an enemy but described him as “misguided”.

He said, “Of course, definitely. I mean, if you look at the number of killings that were done there (southern Kaduna) and what is going on now, you can’t compare at all.

“And he didn’t give opportunities. We couldn’t do a lot of things. But now you could see that breath of fresh air.”

He further alleged that El-Rufai used his position to demolish properties belonging to some residents, including people from his own area, following personal disagreements.

“I can tell you people what he has done to people living in Kaduna state from his own area. He had just personal [issues] with friends. The next thing, he sends a bulldozer to bulldoze your house down. He’s done it. It’s there on the TV,” he said.

“It’s not anything I’m concocting. People just go to YouTube and check what he has done. I mean, you will see a lot of it.

“He did a lot of things that I’m sure even he too is not proud of. Sitting down to look at it, I think he’s not proud of. And nobody should really, really be able to do that.”

Musa called for political leaders who would work to unite Nigerians instead of taking advantage of the country’s ethnic and religious differences.

According to him, Nigeria needs leaders who will promote peace and bring people from different backgrounds together rather than deepen existing divisions.

ALSO READ: Kaduna Government Accuses El-Rufai Of Inciting Violence To Destabilize The State