Blame Governor Nasir Elrufai for Kaduna’s persistent crises:-HURIWA

A prominent pro-democracy and non-governmental organization – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned as premeditated, atrocious and provocative, the well-organized assassination of the traditional ruler of Atom Adara Chiefdom, Dr Maiwada Galadima even as it blames the intrinsically divisive style of the Kaduna state governor Malam Nassir Elrufai for the persistent incidents of tribal wars in the state.

The Rights group which also carpeted the presidency and the National Assembly for failing to check the excesses and the cacophony of illegalities of the Kaduna state governor over the last three and half years, also wondered why the Kaduna state governor has not come under security scrutiny even after admitting publicly that he offered cash settlement to alleged armed Fulani marauders to stop calling Southern Kaduna Christians.

HURIWA affirmed that section 308(1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999(as amended) which is a legal immunity from prosecution of holders of certain executive offices does not forbid the placement of a governor on security watch if such a person constitute grave danger to public peace.

HURIWA lamented that unless actions are taken by the relevant security, legislative and executive institutions to classify Malam Nasir Elrufai as a national security risk and put him under intensive SECURITY surveillance, then the intermittent conflicts between divergent ethno-religious divides in Kaduna state may even escalate into full blown cocktails of civil wars.

“It is a notorious fact that the current Kaduna state governor is perceived as someone who has in the last three and half years of being in political office to have widened the gulf between the mainly Christian communities in Southern Kaduna state and the Northern part of the highly fragile and conflicts prone state. Kaduna needs a peace builder and someone who embodies tolerance and harmonious co-existent as governor in this twenty first century and not a someone who is more or less an ethnic jingoist and an unrepentant religious bigot and an Islamic fundamentalist.”

On the killing of the popular traditional ruler who was reportedly summoned by the state government, HURIWA through the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, has demanded a transparent investigation by an independent panel of investigators to be drawn from competent and patriotic members of the public including judicial and civil society practitioners to ascertain the remote and immediate causes of this dastardly criminal act of planned assassination of this peace loving traditional custodian.”

“We once more call on the National Assembly to take up the task of law making process for the Kaduna state people in line with the constitutional provisions since the rubber stamped Kaduna house of assembly is completely compromised and the members have abdicated their constitutional task of making law for the security and wellbeing of Kaduna state people.”

“The security forces have also failed to put an end to the armed struggle embarked upon by suspected Fulani mercenaries and other hoodlums whose major diabolical assignment is to destabilize the stability and peace of the entire Southern Kaduna and to instigate civil unrests. This breakdown of law and order must be brought to an end even if it means declaring a state of emergency on security in Kaduna state. The Kaduna state governor has demonstrated that he lacks the charisma and temperament to dispense justice and equity to all the component parts of Kaduna state. Nigerians must not watch as the good people of Kaduna state are destroyed systematically.”

HURIWA recalled that the Kaduna State government had confirmed the death of the abducted traditional ruler of Atom Adara Chiefdom, Maiwada Galadima.

Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Publicity, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, disclosed this in a statement and described the killing of the traditional ruler in Kachia Local Government Area of the state as inhuman.

HURIWA recalled that gunmen suspected to be armed Fulani killer gangs had intercepted the convoy of the royal father at Maikyali village along Kaduna-Kachia Road on Friday last week and opened fire on the vehicles which forced them to come to a halt.

During the operation, the traditional ruler’s police orderly and three others in his convoy were shot dead by the gunmen who later took him and his wife away to an unknown location.

The traditional ruler’s wife had regained her freedom two days after, but he was held hostage by his abductors who demanded a ransom from his family.