A group under the aegis of Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has called on the Department of State Services (DSS), to invite the Ex-Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, over his comments widely criticised for being divisive.
The forum, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr Isuwa Dogo, on Sunday, condemned the former governor over his controversial comments on the role of religion in the 2023 governorship election in Kaduna.
In a nearly six-minute video which trended on social media, El-Rufai could be seen meeting with Islamic clerics ahead of his exit from the office, justifying his choice of Muslims occupying top positions in the Kaduna State Government as against Christians.
He claimed that the Muslims overwhelmingly voted for the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the last election.
The comments prompted outrage from several quarters including the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), accusing El-Rufai of dividing the people of Kaduna along fault lines during his eight-year tenure as governor.
In a similar vein, the MBF noted that at the meeting which was conducted on the eve of his departure as governor, El-Rufai addressed “the preachers on how he, with others, plotted to enthrone the same-faith ticket in the state that was later successfully replicated at the Federal level.”
The statement reads:
“The attention of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has been drawn to the condemnation of the provocative pronouncements by the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, while addressing a select group of Islamic clerics after the conclusion of the highly disputed presidential and governorship polls. In the meeting with Islamic clerics that was conducted on the eve of his departure as Kaduna State Governor, el-Rufai told the preachers on how he, with others, plotted to enthrone the same-faith ticket in the state that was later successfully replicated at the Federal level.
“The former governor recalled that he, with others, was determined to ensure the Muslim-Muslim ticket was sustained for another 20 years to ensure Christians come to terms with the indispensability of the same-faith ticket as a panacea for peace in both the State and the Federal level. What he 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.
“The MBF, as the socio-cultural organisation for ethnic nationalities that are mostly Christians of the Middle Belt Region, 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 in order to destabilise the Nigerian State.
“The unfortunate comments by this bigot, who is erroneously thought of as a nationalist and public intellectual, portray him as a divisive leader who not only thrives in creating chaos, but also reveal him as an irredeemable religious extremist whose antecedents as governor showcases him as a treacherous enemy of Nigeria that must be barred from the corridor of power.
“Even before now, the Forum has never been deceived by the pretentiousness of the former governor whose stock in trade is divisiveness hidden under the thin covering of a public intellectualism and patriotism.
Dogo noted that video clip exposes El-rufai as the most contemptible and appalling divider-in-chief.
” His hypocrisy and innermost desire to work against the secularity of the Nigerian State have left many to ask: What is this little man, who has benefitted greatly from Nigeria, trying to achieve? If there has been any doubt of his complicity and dubiousness in the promotion of heightened political and religious tension in Nigeria; his meeting with selected members of Muslim clerics leaves no one in doubt that he is the most dangerous politician in the country today.
The Forum calls on the Nigerian security agencies not only to place the former governor under its radar, but he should be invited by the secret police for a chat.