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Tag: el-rufai

  • We were ready to lose students in bid to kill bandits – El-Rufai

    We were ready to lose students in bid to kill bandits – El-Rufai

    Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Thursday said when 29 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State, were abducted, the plan was to attack and kill the bandits even if it meant some students would die in the process.

    El-Rufai added that Kaduna is currently at war and such would only be considered as collateral damage, a price he would be willing to pay instead of paying ransom.

    The governor, however, said before this could be done, the bandits hurriedly changed location which led to the students spending over a month in captivity.

    The governor said this on Thursday during a webinar organised by the Africa Leadership Group.

    The event which was tagged: ‘Developing a Viable Nation 2’ was hosted by Pastor of Trinity House Church, Ituah Ighodalo.

    Responding to a question on his refusal to negotiate with bandits, the governor said, “Two days after the abduction of the Afaka young people, I was assured by the air force and the army that they knew where the kidnappers were with the students and they had encircled (them).

    “We were going to attack them. We would lose a few students but we would kill all the bandits and we would recover some of the students. That was our plan. That was the plan of the air force and the army… But they slipped through the cordon of the army. That is why they were not attacked.

    “We know it is risky, we know in the process we may lose some of the abductees but it is a price we have to pay. This is war, there will always be collateral damage in war and we will rather do that than pay money because paying money has not solved the problem anywhere in the world.”

    El-Rufai admitted that he had “lost weight” over the insecurity in Kaduna State which was giving him sleepless nights.

    The governor, however, claimed that insecurity in Kaduna was not as bad as Niger, Katsina and Zamfara but the media only focused attention on his state because it fitted into their narrative of ethnic clashes.

    El-Rufai said in Katsina and Niger states, entire villages were sacked by bandits but nothing of such happened in Kaduna.

    On why he asked former President Goodluck Jonathan to negotiate with Boko Haram to rescue Chibok girls, the governor stated that he only gave that advice because that was the first time such abduction would take place.

    He said Boko Haram is driven by an ideology and not by money in the case of today’s bandits.

  • El-Rufai: “The evil that men do…” By Enyeribe Anyanwu

    El-Rufai: “The evil that men do…” By Enyeribe Anyanwu

    By Enyeribe Anyanwu

    “The evil that men do lives after them” is a famous quote from Julius Caesar, one of the political plays of legendary playwright, William Shakespeare. In the play, Anthony, Caesar’s friend, is ironically vilifying Brutus and his fellow conspirators for murdering Caesar, but to the conspirators Mark Anthony is referring to Caesar whose murder they had tried to justify before Roman citizens.

    In the view of a literary critic, “the evil that men do lives after them” is a true statement because the evil of people’s actions lives on in the consequence of those choices and deeds long after the person is gone. In other words, the effects of people’s poor choices and wicked actions resound for days, months, and years as those left behind deal with the consequences of the evil committed.

    True as this statement is, it has been modified further to accommodate the present. It is no longer the people the evil doer lives behind that deal with the aftermath, but the evil doer himself also lives to face the consequences of his evil deeds. Hence in this modern time, one can hear: “the evil that men do lives with them.” This modification aptly fits Nasir El-Rufai, the present governor of Kaduna State, as he grapples with the outrage that has continued to trail the unrelenting attacks and abductions of Nigerian citizens in Kaduna State vis-a-vis his stance not negotiate with bandits.

    In the last few weeks, bandits have been on the rampage in Kaduna State, abducting students of tertiary institutions. The most recent of these abductions is the mass abduction of students of Greenfield University out of which five of them have been killed, and the bandits threatening to kill all if their demand is not met. The students were killed because the governor has vehemently refused to negotiate and even threatened to prosecute anyone that negotiates with the bandits. To him, the only answer to the bandits is total annihilation. While insisting he would never negotiate with bandits or terrorists, El-Rufai has continued to talk tough against the bandits. This is regardless of the fact that he has no means of exterminating them neither does he control the apparatus that should be used in accomplishing the task. This, he has voiced this several times.

    On its face value, El-Rufai’s stance or argument makes sense, especially his insistence that payment of ransoms to bandits cannot stop banditry. Instead it will further empower them and equip them to commit more atrocities. Payment of ransom, he insists, amounts to rewarding the criminals for their heinous crimes against the state and humanity. This is a sound argument to which many people subscribe.

    Unfortunately, as things stand, El-Rufai and his government have no alternative, especially as human lives are at stake. Nemesis appears to have caught up with him because of his caustic words for former President Jonathan. He is now face to face with the famous statement by Shakespeare quoted above.

    In 2014, in the wake of the abduction of the Chibok girls, many of whom are still in Boko Haram captivity, Nasir El-Rufai was very harsh on President Goodluck Jonathan whom he accused of negligence and apathy over the abduction. El-Rufai had vehemently and arrogantly urged Jonathan to negotiate with the terrorists to secure the release of the Chibok girls.

    “Whatever it takes to rescue those girls should be done. If one of these girls was Jonathan’s daughter the story will be different, the only reason these girls are still in captivity is because they are not the daughter of any important man in Nigeria and we know it,”El-Rufai had bellowed.

    He went further: “I am in support of any option, you have lives of your citizens at risk, you should not take any option off your table, you should be flexible, you should listen, you should negotiate and look the price you have to pay and get the girls out, you should not say you won’t do this, you won’t do that, it’s irresponsible.”

    Six years after this outburst and insult on the sitting President, fate has brought El-Rufai face to face with Jonathan’s dilemma. The choice he was pushing Jonathan to make is what is facing him now and he has refused to budge. And no one has told him that it is irresponsible to take any option off his table; that he should be flexible, that he should listen and negotiate since the lives of his citizens are at stake?

    It’s so sad that not even the killing of five of the abducted students, the future leaders of the nation can move El-Rufai to reconsider his position. Instead he has continued to infuriate the bandits, telling them that what they deserve is death and not the N800million they are asking for, when all he can do is talk and hold meetings.

    El-Rufai’s reaction to the video making the rounds in the social media where he was making the call on former President Jonathan to negotiate with Boko Haram terrorists is worthy of mention. His reaction to commentators on the video who have condemned his past and present action is a measure of what has become the hallmark of the present administration in the country, that is, diversion of issues. According to his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, El-Rufai’s invectives and advice to Jonathan was based on what he termed Jonathan’s “initial refusal to acknowledge” the abduction of the Chibok girls, which he said Nigerians appear to have forgotten.

    But while diverting attention and trying to whip up sentiments against Jonathan, he could not deny that it is still citizens’ lives that are at stake, and that no option should be taken off the table to secure the lives of the abducted students. However, like his compatriot, Pantami, El-Rufai is telling the nation and the entire world that time has changed his opinion and stance on preserving human lives and pampering and rewarding terrorists and bandits.

    But, however, Nasir El-Rufai tries to justify his stance of annihilating the bandits who are holding and killing his citizens as against securing the lives of the citizens first, he cannot get away with the judgment of history, and the stark reality that the evil that men do lives after them.

  • May Day 2021: You fired 60,000 workers, Kaduna lawyer blasts El-Rufai in open letter

    May Day 2021: You fired 60,000 workers, Kaduna lawyer blasts El-Rufai in open letter

    Founding Executive Director of House of Justice and Human Right Lawyer, Gloria Ballason ESQ, has accused the Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai of power abuse which she said is conspicuous in the sack of sixty thousand workers, displacement of traditional institutions, land grabbing among others.

    In an open letter made available to TheNewsGuru.com, TNG, Miss Ballason claimed the governor is only using his current immunity to inflict hardships on some disadvantaged Citizens in Kaduna, a development she said is merely transient and temporary.

    The Full Text of the Letter Reads:

    “Gloria Mabeiam Ballason Esq wrote:

    An Open Letter to Governor Nasir Ahmad Elrufai of Kaduna State.

    Dear El-rufai,

    YOU CANNOT CONTINUE TO TREAT KADUNA AS A CONQUERED TERRITORY.

    It is the 2021 Workers Day and you hold the record of throwing out over 60,000 civil servants out of job in Kaduna State. Since your assumption to office as the 22nd Governor of Kaduna state, you have acted as law unto yourself. Many actions you have taken have had direct negative and sometimes life threatening consequences on the people in terms of employment,security, education or cultural heritage.The actions are too numerous for mention. Here are a few:

    Mass Retrenchment of Civil Servants & Destruction of Business Premises.

    In 2016, 13,336 workers who your administration adjudged as ghost workers, were retrenched. Local government treasurers and directors of personnel management were sacked.Typists in the public service were rendered redundant. In Sabon Gari- Zaria, a bomb blast occurred that claimed the lives of at least 25 teachers and wounded 32 others during your imposed verification exercise. A further 36,000 workers, 4,466 traditional rulers, 21,000 teachers, 4,000 local government workers and 8,000 from the state ministries have received marching orders. Civil Servants 50 years and above or at level 14 and above are felled by your sword of damocles while those from level 1-6 are demoted as casual staff.

    As though this is not bad enough, you have continued to chase not just ‘ghost workers’ but the ghosts of those who you have rendered jobless by destroying thousands of shops in markets and other business premises.

    Official Land Grabbing and Demolition of Houses.

    Your government has led a persistent and gruesome exercise in land grabbing and demolition of private houses and estate. With no consideration for the Rule of Law or legal acquisition for overriding public purpose, vast swathes of lands belonging to citizens and acquired by legitimate processes have been confiscated and forcefully acquired by your government. Houses are demolished in the dead of night or at periods when people cannot even retrieve invaluable documents and possession. You have usurped powers you do not constitutionally possess.You have been law maker, law breaker, persecutor and judge.

    Destruction of the Traditional Institutions and Cultural Heritage.

    While you make a claim of pursuing peace, you have undermined the traditional institution that has over the years been instrumental in ensuring peace. You have abrogated identities, cultures and cultural life. You have even deluded yourself to have had the power to scrap the Adara chiefdom, adjust boundaries and foisted identities that communities do not identify with. Traditional leaders in Kaduna state have now been stripped of agency and their salaries slashed down and paid when you deem fit.

    Education
    You made so much song and dance about providing free education in Kaduna state but you have raised school fees from N24,000 to a minimum of N150,000 – a 500% increase capable of creating 75% school drop outs in a state already beleaguered by insecurity and joblessness.

    Insecurity & Abducted Students.

    Kaduna state is now the hub of kidnappers. Schools are no longer safe. The roads are not safe. The villages are not safe. The cities are not safe either .The people live in perpetual fear.

    In December 2016, you acknowledged paying terrorists to stop the killings, in 2021, you announced you will punish anyone who paid terrorists. Your policy summersaults are gravely concerning as you seem to rule by your whims and caprices.

    Your government has become an undertaker- announcing casualties and collecting mangled lifeless bodies of precious children and returning them to inconsolable parents and families. The continuous abduction of the students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization and Greenfield University is deeply worrisome. Five students and a staff of the Greenfield University have already been killed. 29 abducted students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization are still at large.You have a constitutional and moral obligation to ensure the safe return of each of those students and many other residents who are even now in captivity.

    You have so far treated Kaduna state with unbridled power and as your conquered territory. May I remind you that power is transient. The Nigerian Constitution may have guaranteed your immunity today but it will not last forever.

    Gloria Mabeiam Ballason Esq
    C.E.O. House of Justice
    1st May, 2021.”

  • El-Rufai’s sack of 30,000 workers responsible for insecurity in Kaduna – Labour

    El-Rufai’s sack of 30,000 workers responsible for insecurity in Kaduna – Labour

    Organised Labour has linked the security challenge in Kaduna to the sack of workers by the Govenor Nasir El-Rufai led State Government.

    Labour claimed the Governor El -Rufai led administration has sacked 30, 000 workers since it came into power in 2015.

    General Secretary, Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), Comrade Sikiru Waheed, said this during the Workers’ Day celebration in Abuja.

    AUPCTRE, an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress, said it would support the decision of the Congress on the fate of workers in Kaduna.

    The National Executive Council of the NLC has threatened to shut down Kaduna and economic activities following the decision of the government to sack 5, 000 workers.

    He said: “AUPCTRE is using this May Day 2021 occasion to reassure workers and its leadership as ably represented by Comrade Ayuba Wabba that we wholeheartedly support all Central Administrative Council, Central Working Committee, and NEC decisions of the NLC on burning and unpalatable industrial dispute created by His Excellency Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State on the retrenchment of 5, 000 workers last month, totalling about 30, 000 workforce since 2015 to date.

    “This has no doubt contributed to the case of insecurity in Kaduna State and its neighbouring states of Niger, FCT and Kogi.”

    The union commended workers for their resilience despite the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Outrage on Twitter over invitation of El-Rufai to speak at #ThePlatform leadership series

    Outrage on Twitter over invitation of El-Rufai to speak at #ThePlatform leadership series

    Nigerians on Twitter are calling out for the boycott of The Platform and Nigeria Leadership Series because the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai is part of the speakers.

    The flyers for the programs circulated on Twitter on Thursday with the hashtags #BoycottThePlatform #BoycottELrufai, calling out for El-Rufai to be remove as a speaker from both programs.

    The organisers of the programmes haven’t posted anything in regards to his removal yet. Nigeria Leadership Series is set to hold today by 5pm, while The platform will be holding on the 1st of May, 2021.

  • El-Rufai to terrorists: No Kobo from government treasury for you

    El-Rufai to terrorists: No Kobo from government treasury for you

    Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has elaborated on his stance not to negotiate with terrorists, insisting the annihilation of the criminals would end banditry and kidnapping.

    El-Rufai’s government was reacting to some commentators who blamed him for asserting that the government would not reward hoodlums.

    The criticism of the government followed mass abduction of students and the killing of at least five of them recently.

    The commentators had also unearthed a video clip in which Gov. Nasir El-Rufai had berated President Goodluck Jonathan for not negotiating with the abductors of the Chibok school girls in 2014.

    The governor’s reaction was outlined in details Tuesday by Muyiwa Adekeye, Special Adviser on Media and Communication.

    Adekeye said El-Rufai’s stance over the 2014 kidnap of Chibok girls was based on the circumstances at the time.

    “The years since 2014 may have led some people to forget the denial and doubt that defined the Federal Government’s response to the Chibok abductions, especially the initial refusal to acknowledge that it happened.

    “That was the context under which civic pressures were brought on the government,” he said.

    “Nigeria’s journey since the 2014 Chibok tragedy has proven that the solution to violent crimes, including terrorism and banditry, is a robust response from the state and its coercive agencies.

    “The quantum of money paid as ransom following many negotiations with bandits have not stopped kidnappings, reduced their frequency or deterred the criminals.

    “The experience of many states in the Northwest of Nigeria since 2015 has included cattle rustling, kidnappings, killings and the devastation of communities by criminals.

    “Several states sought to negotiate their way out of the problems by talking to bandits, paying them money or offering them amnesty.

    “This has not worked and has only encouraged the criminals to press ahead for a surrender of the public treasury to them. That is clearly not in the public interest.

    “Mass abduction was like a novelty in 2014. But the facts have changed since then.

    “Negotiations and ransoms have been undertaken, but these have not stopped the criminals. It has only encouraged them.

    “It is only prudent to review one’s position when the facts change, and the suggestion made by a citizen years ago cannot be taken as the immutable answer to a serious problem which has evolved since 2014, no matter the viral replays of the said video clip.”

    Adekeye stressed that the state has been consistently transparent about its security challenges and support to security agencies.

    “We are engaging the Federal Government to have security responses that move away from reactive response of repelling bandits towards a comprehensive, proactive offensive that takes the battle to the criminals and uproots them,” Adekeye added.

    The state government reminded that it has no direct control of any of the security agencies and will not compound the job of security agencies by giving criminals the resources to acquire more arms.

    The government stressed that it was deeply concerned about the recent kidnappings and killings of some students in tertiary institutions, and sympathised with their families.

    “We mourn the dead students and we offer our condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.

    “The ruthless and heartless resort of the kidnappers to murdering these young persons is part of their effort to further their blackmail and compel us to abandon our ‘no-ransom, no-negotiation’ policy.”

    Adekeye added that the government would not surrender to the antics of the criminals or create an incentive for them to commit more crime

  • We must kill all bandits to ensure safety of school children – El-Rufai

    We must kill all bandits to ensure safety of school children – El-Rufai

    The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai said the only way to ensure the safety of Nigerian school children and indeed the entire populace is to kill all bandits.

    He spoke at the stakeholders’ dialogue on Financing Safe Schools in Nigeria, organized by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, in Abuja.

    He suggested that the Nigeria Air Force, which has various air platforms, including drones, should bomb all forests, currently occupied by bandits and simply eliminate them.

    His words, “Nobody living in the forest is innocent and we must kill them all. The Chief of Air Staff has been doing well and this has led to a reduction in the activities of bandits in recent times. So the only way to stop banditry is to kill them all.”

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    He maintained his position not to negotiate with bandits and pay the ransom, saying, “People ask if I won’t pay the ransom if my child was kidnapped and I said that I won’t pay but that is a personal decision, which we do not all support.”

    Meanwhile, the Governor of Sokoto State, Mr Aminu Tambuwal, has appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) not to insist on state governments’ repayment, in the immediate, of the $2.1 billion Budget Support facility, earlier granted them.

    In his remarks at the occasion, Gov Tambuwal said that state governments were already having serious financial difficulties due to dwindling revenues and that the commencement of the deductions of the facility would spell doom for them.

    He warned that a worse financial position by the states would adversely affect the funding of education, a sector currently in need of more resources.

    In her address, Ahmed warned of a socio-economic disaster, with an estimated 13 million out-of-school children in the country.

    Her words, “With an estimated 13 million children currently out of school in the country, we sit in the precipice of a socio-economic disaster and a full education crisis, if we do not act in a coordinated manner to stop the current wave of systematic attacks on the fundamental rights of our children to a safe learning environment.

    “Parents are increasingly more nervous about sending their children, and particularly their young girls to school, with some choosing to withdraw existing students. The time to act is now.

    “Today is an opportunity for us to come together to renew and reimagine our country’s commitment to ensuring safe schools for our children.

    “This process must be government-led – it must be strategic, and it must result in a multi-stakeholder framework and plan of action that ensures that any planning we do today is sustainably financed.”

    She said that although the entire cost of the Safe School Initiative had not yet been determined, it

  • BREAKING: Adeboye, El-Rufai meet in Kaduna [Photos]

    BREAKING: Adeboye, El-Rufai meet in Kaduna [Photos]

    General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adeboye has met with Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

    The meeting is coming days after eight members of RCCG kidnapped in Kaduna were released.

    It held at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House in Kaduna.

    Members of RCCG, Region 30, Trinity Sanctuary, Kaduna, were attacked on March 26 near Doka along the Kachia-Kafanchan Road on their way to a programme.

    Adeboye on April 8 said all the eight kidnapped members of the church had been released.

  • Sack of 4000 workers: I wasn’t elected to pay salaries – El-Rufai

    Sack of 4000 workers: I wasn’t elected to pay salaries – El-Rufai

    Governor of Kaduna State, Nasiru El-Rufai, has said that his government was elected to develop the state and not just to pay salaries.

    This is coming after 4000 workers across the 23 local government areas of the state received their disengagement letters from service.

    The governor further added that he “was elected to promote equality of opportunity, to build and run schools and hospitals, upgrade infrastructure and make the state more secure and attractive to the private sector for jobs and investments.

    El-Rufai, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, said its public finances have been severely stretched by the high wage bills at a time when revenues from the Federation Account Allocations Committee (FAAC) have not increased.

    “In November 2020, KDSG had only N162.9m left after paying salaries after receiving N4.83bn from FAAC and paid N4.66bn as wages,” he said.

    The government pointed out that what it has been receiving from FAAC since the middle of 2020, like most other sub-nationals, could barely pay salaries and overheads.

    According to him, “In the last six months, personnel costs have accounted for between 84.97% and 96.63% of FAAC transfers received by the Kaduna State Government.

    “In March 2021, Kaduna State had only N321m left after settling personnel costs.”

    The statement pointed out that in March 2021, it got N4.819 billion from FAAC and paid out N4.498 billion, representing 93% of the money received saying, “This does not include standing orders for overheads, funding security operations, running costs of schools and hospitals, and other overhead costs that the state has to bear for the machinery of government to run, for which the state government taps into IGR earnings.”

    The statement recalled that: “In September 2019, Kaduna State Government became the first government in the country to pay the new minimum wage and consequential adjustments.

    “The state government followed this up by increasing the minimum pension of persons on the defined benefits scheme to N30,000 monthly.

    “This step to advance the welfare of workers significantly increased the wage burden of the state government and immediately sapped up the funds of many local governments.

    “While the Kaduna State Government believes that public sector wages overall are still relatively low, their current levels are obviously limited by the resources available to the government.”

    El-Rufai pointed out that: “What each public servant earns might be puny in comparison to private-sector wages, but the total wage bill consumes much of the revenues of the state.

    “The desire to pay more is a sentiment that must bow to the limits prescribed by the ability to pay, therefore, the state government has no choice but to shed some weight and reduce the size of the public service.

    “It is a painful but necessary step to take, for the sake of the majority of the people of this state.”

    While justifying the job cut, the statement however described it as “A painful but necessary step to take, for the sake of the majority of the people of this state, the public service of the state with less than 100,000 employees (and their families) cannot be consuming more than 90% of government resources, with little left to positively impact the lives of the more than nine million that are not political appointees or civil servants.

    “It is gross injustice for such a micro-minority to consume the majority of the resources of the state.”

    He pointed out that the rationalisation behind the exercise will also affect political appointees and its purpose is to save funds and ensure that a strong and efficient public service exists to use those resources to implement progressive programmes and projects for the people, and thereby develop the state.

  • What I will do if bandits kidnap my son – El-Rufai

    What I will do if bandits kidnap my son – El-Rufai

    Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai has vowed he won’t pay ransom even if bandits succeed in kidnapping his son.

    He said he is so against payment of ransom that he would rather pray his son makes heaven if kidnapped than pay abductors.

    El-Rufai spoke during a radio interview on Friday.

    According to him: “I mean it and I will say it again here. Even if my son is kidnapped, I will rather pray for him to make heaven instead because I won’t pay any ransom.”

    He foreclosed paying ransom to secure the release of the students abducted by bandits from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Kaduna in March 11.

    According to him, his government is “absolutely not paying ransom” but considering other means to ensure the students are returned to their parents.