By John Akubo, Abuja
Midlle-Belt Forum (MBF) has slammed the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, over his comment while addressing a group of Islamic clerics on the recent presidential and governorship polls.
The Forum accused the former governor of plot to set adherents of Christianity and Islam on warpath.
On the last day of his tenure as governor, El-Rufai met some Islamic clerics and told them how he, with others, plotted to enthrone the same-faith ticket in the state, which was later successfully adopted at the federal level.
The former governor had expressed his determination to ensure that the Muslim-Muslim ticket was sustained for another two decades to ensure Christians come to terms with the indispensability of such ticket as panacea for peace in the state and federal levels.
National Publicity Secretary of MBF, Dr Isuwa Dogo, in Abuja, yesterday, stated: “What El-Rufai never told his selected preachers was that the state he ruled and ruined for eight years was turned into Nigeria’s headquarters of kidnappings and human barbarities that led to the murder of tens of thousands of people and decimation of over 100 communities under his watch.
“MBF, as the socio-cultural organisation for ethnic nationalities that are mostly Christians of the Middle Belt, is outraged by the deceitful attempts by El-Rufai and his nebulous co-travellers to push our nation down the slippery slope of religious tension and bigotry.
“The outrage over the El-Rufai video clip demonstrates the level of disappointment by Nigerians over the former governor’s outburst that was aimed at inflaming religious conflagration to destabilise the Nigerian state.”
Claiming that it could understand why El-Rufai’s eight years in power as governor was characterised by massive killings and decimation of Christian-dominated areas of Southern Kaduna, MBF accused the governor of acting unconcerned towards the genocidal attacks.
“Now that the cat has been let out the bag, those unsure of who El-Rufai is, now understand. Nigerians are now aware that despite denials of the Islamisation agenda, El-Rufai has come out to declare, in broad daylight, the reasons behind the same-faith ticket; thereby driving the imperatives for citizens to wake up to this orchestrated stratagem of enthroning the dominance of one religion over others,” it added.
It cautioned both Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna and President Bola Tinubu to be wary of the immediate past governor.
“We hereby denounce El-Rufai’s comments before the clerics as a shameless act of national hypocrisy steeped in the premeditated plot to set adherents of both religions on warpath.”
Source: The Guardian