Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said the killings and destruction of properties currently ongoing in Southern Kaduna dated way back to the administrations of his predecessors in office.
El-Rufai said his administration has been at the forefront of restoring peace to the troubled part of the state.
El-Rufai spoke on Thursday on a monitored programme on television.
The governor noted that while the efforts so far in restoring peace was yielding results, some traditional rulers in the affected part have continually sabotaged his government’s efforts.
El-Rufai also blamed the media for allegedly twisting his effort towards ending the crisis through compensation of Fulani herdsmen.
TheNewsGuru.com recalls that late Patrick Yakowa was governor of Kaduna State from 20 May 2010 – 15 December 2012. On 15 December 2012 he died in a helicopter crash along with the former National Security Adviser Gen. Owoye Andrew Azazi (rtd) while flying from Bayelsa State to Port Harcourt. They were returning from the funeral of Oronto Douglas’ father in Beyelsa state. He was succeeded by Mukhtar Yero.
He noted that killings had started since the time of governor Yakowa, claiming his government was the one making effort to find a lasting solution to it.
In his words: “Southern Kaduna communities were attacked under Yakowa and my predecessor but I am the one trying to solve it.
“I am being accused for paying to kill. I am the one doing everything to stop the killings and I am the one being attacked.
“What I did was compensate to stop the killings and one newspaper decided to twist it.
“Someone paid youths, and asked them to kill.”
He also claimed that those benefiting from the killings in the area have continued to sabotage government’s effort.
He added, “In March 2016, the Kafanchan Peace Declaration was signed and in May, another crisis broke.
“The conflict entrepreneurs who have been benefiting from conflicts decided they had to derail the peace process.”
The governor also noted that no one has been tried since the crisis started.
He said, “Since the crisis started, no one ever got prosecuted.
“We are focusing on 3 major steps to end the crisis. The first is ensuring adequate security in Southern Kaduna.
“The second step is prosecuting those responsible for the crisis and the third is the Peace Building Process.
“We are working closely with the traditional rulers, but some of them are the problem.”
reports that the Catholic Church in December put the casualty figure in the Southern Kaduna crisis at 808.