El-rufai Treating Us As Aliens; Running Kaduna Like Personal Property – Catholic Bishop

The Catholic Bishop of Kafanchan Diocese, Joseph Danlami Bagobiri, has told the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, to stop running the state as his personal estate, noting that the Kaduna people have watched with pains for about two years as the state is being managed as a personal estate in a way that excludes many stakeholders from the state.

The Catholic bishop, in his Easter message, declared that the North-West state belongs to all of its citizens irrespective of their political, ethnic and religious affiliation, warning El-Rufai to stop treating some stakeholders in the state as aliens.

“The governor should stop running it as his personal establishment. Kaduna is the only state that we can call our own. And because Kaduna State is our state, we are contributing significantly for its progress not only on the spiritual level, but also our works in the areas of education, medicare, social upliftment and building of capacities of the people cannot be ignored.

“Government must recognise us as equal stakeholders in the management and running of the affairs of the state. We do not accept being treated as aliens or reduced to playing the second fiddle position in the only state we can call our state.

“Those that divine providence have entrusted with the responsibility of governing the state politically must govern justly and in a manner that includes not one that excludes other segments of the state,” the revered cleric said.

While urging the Governor to ensure justice and fairness for all irrespective of religious, ethnic and political considerations, Bishop Bagobiri charged him to ensure equitable distribution of political offices among adherents of the two main religions in the state.

“Government should see that the application and use of resources that had accrued to the state and the siting or location of developmental projects and services for the improvement of the quality of life of the people, that due regard is given to the North/South divide in the state and that no part of the state is placed in a disadvantaged position,” he said.