Balkanization Of Traditional Institutions: Southern Kaduna Leaders Seek El–Rufai’s Probe

Leaders of the Southern Kaduna people, under the auspices of the Southern Kaduna Leadership Council, have called on the federal government to set up a judicial panel of inquiry to try the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, over alleged maladministration and a myriad of wrongdoings inflicted on Southern Kaduna.

The Council, at a press conference in Kaduna on Wednesday, said the people of Southern Kaduna have suffered injuries due to deliberate and systematic deprivation of their rights and privileges through the misuse of office by El-Rufai during his time as governor.

They also frowned at the balkanisation of the Southern Kaduna Chiefdoms and Emirates, asking the incumbent Governor Uba Sani to repeal the Kaduna State Traditional Institution Law, 2021, through which most of the chiefs of Southern Kaduna were regraded or demoted and placed in perpetual fear, making their authority questionable.

Secretary of the Council, Mr Timothy Gandu, who the leaders of the area flanked, alleged that El-Rufai deliberately sought to change the demographics of southern Kaduna by orchestrating the banditry, displacing their people from their ancestral lands, thereby allowing foreigners to come and take possession of the land. “No wonder he said in 20 years we will be irrelevant.”

The leaders, however, called on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to accede to their demands and direct the appropriate law enforcement and judicial authorities to interrogate El-Rufai and make him face a judicial inquiry for his actions/inactions while in office.

They also demanded that, “since the Federal High Court has found Nasir El-Rufai guilty of gross and deliberate abuse of office and power, he should be banned for life from politics and from holding public office due to his contravention of the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees fundamental human rights, including freedom of speech, thought, conscience and religion.

“We demand that the DSS and other relevant law enforcement agencies investigate the individuals to whom El-Rufai paid state funds to prevent them from killing the people of Southern Kaduna, and his relationship with these individuals be unravelled.

The genocide meted out on our people during his reign needs to be interrogated to unravel his role in aiding and abetting grievous and egregious crimes against humanity.

“We also demand that, for justice to be served and the souls of the unjustly departed to rest in peace, El-Rufai should face the full wrath of the law if found guilty.

“We further demand that, the current Government of Kaduna State, which has begun to address some of the wrongs committed by El-Rufai’s administration, should urgently consider repealing the objectionable Kaduna State Traditional Institution Law, 2021, enacted by El-Rufai’s government, and revert traditional institutions in the state to their 2015 status quo.

“We are also calling for a review of all non-inclusive policies, laws, and programmes to ensure they reflect the diverse nature of the state.

“We recognise and appreciate the efforts thus far by His Excellency, Sen. Uba Sani, towards creating a more inclusive government and the support seen towards the establishment of the Federal University of Applied Science Kachia, the Federal Medical Centre Kafanchan, and other federal institutions in Southern Kaduna.

“We believe that His Excellency will achieve much more in transforming the state into an enviable haven for the people if he runs an inclusive government,” they said.

The Southern Kaduna leaders, however, commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his inclusive governance, from which Southern Kaduna has begun to feel the presence of government through establishing a Federal University, Federal Medical Centre and other laudable projects.