‘El-Rufai’s governance affected all of Kaduna’

Khamis Musa Darazo says the grievances surrounding former Kaduna Governor Nasiru El-Rufai's administration belonged to the whole state, not just Southern Kaduna.

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The reality is that the grievances surrounding El-Rufai’s style of administration were felt across Kaduna State and not exclusively by the people of Southern Kaduna.

Darazo, an All Progressives Congress chieftain in Bauchi State and a loyalist of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, made the argument while speaking with journalists in Bauchi. He was responding to what he described as attempts to give a sectional or religious meaning to recent comments by Defence Minister Christopher Musa on Channels Television.

Darazo said Musa's reference to "our people" should be understood as referring to Kaduna State as a whole. "The reality is that the grievances surrounding El-Rufai’s style of administration were felt across Kaduna State and not exclusively by the people of Southern Kaduna," he said.

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The minister did not call out Nasiru El-Rufai because he is a Muslim. That interpretation is completely misplaced.

He rejected the suggestion that the minister criticised El-Rufai because of religion. Darazo pointed to Tinubu and Kaduna Governor Uba Sani, both of whom are Muslims, as examples of leaders he said were working to reduce division and promote unity.

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Our people can never mean only Southern Kaduna. It means the people of Kaduna State as a whole.

"Our people can never mean only Southern Kaduna. It means the people of Kaduna State as a whole," Darazo said. He argued that different communities experienced different challenges and that it was unfair to erase those experiences by presenting the issue as affecting only one part of the state. He urged Nigerians to consider Musa's comments in context and reject attempts to turn them into a religious or regional confrontation. "Kaduna belongs to all its people, and no community should be made to feel that its experience does not matter," he added.

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Kaduna belongs to all its people, and no community should be made to feel that its experience does not matter.