Kaduna governor explodes over southern Kaduna killings

Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-rufai has lashed out at Nigerians for blaming him for the Southern Kaduna killings.

El-rufai, who was interviewed on Channel’s ”Sunrise Daily” on Thursday, stated that Nigerians have resolved to blaming him for the attacks despite his numerous efforts to quell the tensions in the affected areas of the state.

Speaking on the crisis, El-rufai revealed that some traditional rulers in the state are to blame for the unrest, adding that they were sabotaging his efforts to bring peace.

He chided the media for negatively framing reports on his monetary compensation of the Fulani Herdsmen. He added that the killings had started right from the time of his predecessor, Governor Yakowa, claiming that his government was the only government searching for a lasting solution to the problem.

In his words;

Southern Kaduna communities were attacked under Yakowa and my predecessor but I am the one trying to solve it.I am being accused for paying to kill. I am the one doing everything to stop the killings and I am the one being attacked. What I did was compensate to stop the killings and one newspaper decided to twist it.Someone paid youths, and asked them to kill.

He further stated;

In March 2016, the Kafanchan Peace Declaration was signed and in May, another crisis broke.The conflict entrepreneurs who have been benefiting from conflicts decided they had to derail the peace process.

The governor also revealed the steps taken to quell the situation. He said;

We are focusing on 3 major steps to end the crisis. The first is ensuring adequate security in Southern Kaduna.The second step is prosecuting those responsible for the crisis and the third is the Peace Building Process.We are working closely with the traditional rulers, but some of them are the problem.