*MBF Alleges Former Gov Persistently Works Against Christians
By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
A fresh salvo was this afternoon fired at immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, over his recent controversial comments on the people of predominantly Christian Southern Kaduna, as Middle Belt Forum (MBF) pilloried him for the remarks.
Also, the forum warned all political parties hoping to win votes in the Middle Belt to steer clear of El-Rufai by not giving him any prominent position in their ranks.
The forum stopped short of declaring El-Rufai as enemy of the Middle Belt, alleging that he is not the region’s friend and has consistently worked against the Belt and its constituent Christian populace over time.
El-Rufai, who quit the federally-ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) following his disagreement with the President Bola Tinubu presidency in the wake of his inability to secure a plum appointive position, later pitched tent with the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Presently, he is working hard,in a coalition, alongside former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Party (ADC, 2023 presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, former Transportation Minister in the Muhammadu Buhari administration, Rotimi Amaechi, and other heavyweights, to try to unseat President Tinubu from office in 2027.
Since the Tinubu era kicked off in 2023, there has been relative peace and security in the Middle Belt with some of its illustrious citizens, such as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Chris Musa, in top positions in the administration –a far cry from the previous federal administration.
El-Rufai had recently on Channels TV programme ‘Sunday Politics’ said,among others, that Southern Kaduna had not up to 25% of Kaduna State’s total population even as he expressed lack of regret for the policies of his then administration which were perceived as stifling the Christian areas of the State.
His administration was marked by persistent terrorists’ bloodshed against the people of Southern Kaduna even as there were loud outcries of deliberate marginalization, economic strangulation and visible infinitesimal infrastructural development in that section of the key North-West state.
El-Rufai’s comments and political activities sparked angry reactions from the State government, Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), Northern Christians, individuals, and now MBF.
Describingthe ex-governor’s remarks as incendiary, false and deliberately misleading, the forum, at a joint press conference in Kaduna by its State Exco and the national body spokesman, said that El-Rufai’s claims that ” ‘Christians constitute not even 25% of Kaduna State’ is a fiction, a lie from the pit of hell.”
According to MBF, “verified data from independent and governmental sources presents a starkly different reality.”
MBF Kaduna State Chairman, Air Commodore John Bako Ajeye (rtd), who addressed newsmen, said that El-Rufai’s statements on Southern Kaduna –which is an integral part of the Middle Belt community absorbed into the North West geopolitical zone –represented “a dangerous escalation in rhetoric and a direct assault on truth and demography.”
Effectively kicking off its own position on the matter, MBF cleared the air on the geographical areas that constitute the Middle Belt,in case El-Rufai had forgotten.
Ajeye said: “For clarity, the Middle Belt of Nigeria comprises the ethnic nationalities of the 19 Northern States and the Federal Capital Territory who are not Hausa, Fulani, or Kanuri. Our forum exists to protect the interests and accurate representation of these communities.”
He thumbed down El-Rufai’s comments, saying “the former governor’s interview was a masterclass in deception; a pathetic attempt to rewrite reality and diminish the undeniable political and demographic weight of Southern Kaduna.”
Ajeye gave the MBF perspective to matters thus: “Let us be unequivocal in replacing El-Rufai’s fiction with facts.
“His claim that Christians constitute ‘not even 25%’ of Kaduna State is a fiction, a lie from the pit of hell.”
Southern Kaduna, MBF highlighted, ”refers to the socio-cultural and historical conglomeration of ethnic nationalities in Kaduna state that are not Hausa or Fulani. It is geographically contiguous, with Christianity as its dominant religion.”
The Chairman added that Southern Kaduna encompasses 12 Local Government Areas (LGAs) with the eight LGAs of Kaduna South Senatorial Zone forming its core, in addition to Chikun, Kajuru, Kaduna South and Lere.
“This region spans approximately 26,000 square kilometers and is home to a projected population of 5.1 million people. This constitutes almost half of the state’s population today.
“Kaduna State is not a Christian-minority bloc. It is, in fact, a near-balanced state. Southern Kaduna is also a historic hub of education, intellectualism, and civil service excellence, producing legendary Nigerian pioneers like Dr. Barau Dikko and Prof. Ishaya Audu.
“El-Rufai’s attempt to politically diminish Southern Kaduna is not just false; it is the height of ingratitude. The 2023 gubernatorial election, which his protégé, Senator Uba Sani, won by a razor-thin margin of just 10,806 votes, was decisively determined by the votes from Southern Kaduna, which boasts 43.7% of the state’s registered voters.
“For a man who benefitted from a similar coalition in 2015 to now turn around and label the same people as “insignificant” because they roundly rejected his toxic politics of division, is a shocking display of arrogance,” he said.
Ajeye added: “Furthermore, his comparison of the peaceful, democratic Christian communities of Southern Kaduna to the proscribed Shiite movement is not only reckless but deeply bigoted.
“This dangerous analogy is designed solely to incite hatred and justify the systemic marginalization and violence these communities have endured, particularly under his administration.
“We are not surprised by this vitriol. It is the bitter cry of a man facing a well-deserved political reckoning, the direct consequence of the wicked policies he meted out on the people of Southern Kaduna.
“His administration was marked by deliberate balkanization of our traditional institutions;
unjust redrawing of electoral wards to disenfranchise our people; wholesale abandonment of critical infrastructure projects; and a shocking, blatant disregard for the security of lives and property.
“He has forgotten that he was the first governor to admit on national television that he paid bandits. He has forgotten he was caught on video stating that the Muslim-Muslim ticket was deliberately chosen to “enthrone Islam.” Now, he contradictorily claims it was merely to win an election. This is the height of dishonesty.”
The forum therefore admonished El-Rufai to desist from spreading falsehood and poisoning the unity in the state, pointing out that at his current old age, he should be seeking peace and making amends, not actively working to plunge future generations into conflict.
“Though his days in the political limelight are numbered, he seems tragically determined to leave the political space as its most disgraced and humiliated figure,” MBF added.
The forum called on all well-meaning Nigerians, the national media, and responsible civil society organizations to disregard the former governor’s malicious fabrications and hold him to account for his words.
Further delving into the former governor’s administration, MBF stated that “El-Rufai left Kaduna State far more in ruins than he met it.
“Hundreds of thousands of Kaduna citizens were ruined by his heartless and cruel policies of wanton demolition of residential areas, business premises and inhuman mass sack of workers.
“The truth is that El-Rufai was more of a curse to the millions of his victims in Kaduna State than a blessing. May El-Rufai never happen to any part of Nigeria directly or indirectly.”
Also speaking, spokesman of the forum’s national body, Mr. Luka Binniyat, said the MBF National Working Committee was concerned that some respected politicians had started fraternizing with El-Rufai, warning that any political party that fielded him in a prominent position may lose Middle Belt votes.
“Any political party that fields El-Rufai in a prominent position or allows him to play a cardinal role in its party, be it a coalition or whatever, such a party stands a great risk of losing the votes of the Middle Belters, because El-Rufai has clearly shown that he is not a friend of the Middle Belt.
“Anything that will advance the goodwill, development and progress of the Middle Belt, he stands against. And as such, we are declaring him a persona non grata when it comes to national politics.
“So our message is clear: Anybody that wants to court the vote of the Middle Belt should distance himself away from him.”
PHOTO CAPTION: MBF leaders at the press conference.
