Former governor of Kaduna State and ome-time Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has accused the Kaduna State government of sponsoring thugs to disrupt a political gathering of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Saturday.
Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’, monitored by our correspondent on Sunday night, El-Rufai strongly dismissed claims by the Kaduna State Police Command that his party had invited the thugs to the event, describing such insinuations as “stupid”.
“It is quite stupid of anyone to assume I will invite thugs to invade an event of my party. The police were there. I don’t know what they are investigating, they know what happened. They provided cover to the thugs to do what they did, so these thugs were government-sponsored. We know them, we know the police officers that were there,” he said.
El-Rufai revealed that he had previously petitioned the Inspector-General of Police over the conduct of certain police officers in Kaduna allegedly being used by the state government to intimidate opposition voices.
“I had earlier this year or late last year submitted a petition to the Inspector General of Police on the conduct of some police officers in Kaduna that are being used by the state government to kidnap and abduct opposition figures and critics. I am waiting for the outcome of that investigation,” he stated.
The former governor expressed disappointment at the state of Nigeria’s policing system, lamenting that law enforcement officers were being used to protect those who instigate violence.
“But this attempt by the police to issue a statement implying that we (ADC) as a political party would invite thugs to disrupt our event is a sign that the policing system has collapsed. We used to have policemen; now, we have shadows of the police,” El-Rufai lamented.
He further recalled his late former classmate and ex-Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, describing him as “a gentleman” while contrasting the current state of policing with what it used to be.
LEADERSHIP reports that the former IGP Arase died earlier on Sunday in Abuja after a brief illness.
“I am submitting a petition to the IG as well as the Police Service Commission (PSC) because this gets to the root of the failure of the policing system. When law enforcement agents are the ones used to facilitate and protect those that engage in violence, then we are on our way to total destruction of everything that we stand for in this country,” El-Rufai stated.
