[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ccording to the Leadership Newspaper of 4th December, 2016 under the headline: Foreigners Behind Southern Kaduna Massacre – El-Rufai, he was quoted as saying about what happened during the 2011 post presidential election violence:
“Some of them (Killer Fulani) were from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal,” adding that “Many of these people were killed, cattle lost and they organized themselves and came back to revenge. We took certain steps. We got a group of people that were going round trying to trace some of these people, trying to trace some of these people in Cameroon, Niger Republic and so on to tell them that there is a new governor who is Fulani like them and has no problem paying compensations for lives lost and he is begging you to stop the killing.
“In most of the communities, once that appeal was made to them, they said they have forgiven. There are one or two that asked for monetary compensation. They said they have forgiven the death of human beings, but want compensation for cattle. We said no problem, some we paid.”
What a startling and an unacceptable revelation!
In the light of the above I wish to state as follows:
That there was never in a time in 2011 that Fulani from Mali, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Mali or Senegal were killed in Southern Kaduna with their cattle.
Finally, Mr. Governor you have confirmed what Obasanjo said of you some years ago i.e. that you are not just a liar but an irresponsible irredeemable one. I have struggled over the years to dismiss Obasanjo’s assessment of your person but today my struggle is put to rest.
Perhaps we should forgive your crass ignorance of events in Kaduna State prior to your emergence as the accidental governor of Kaduna State because truly you have never been here, you have lived and scavenged mostly in Lagos and Abuja thus, your knowledge of how Kaduna State has been run successfully before you is limited to hearsay and jaundiced information.
To put it correctly and in context, let me inform you that I was counsel to the Gbagyi community before the Commission of inquiry set up by the Kaduna State Government after the 2011 post-election crisis, I had the responsibility of going through all the memoirs submitted by groups and individuals appearing before the Justice Bello Commission of Inquiry.
I particularly studied and cross examined witnesses of the Miyetti Allah and Muslim communities in Southern Kaduna copies of which I still have. These memoirs tabulated all human and material loses and I can inform you that in none of those memoirs did the Fulani mention the killing of any foreign Fulani.
I also have a copy of the government’s White Paper containing the findings and conclusions of the said commission and can also inform you that there is no record of any foreign Fulani that were killed in Southern Kaduna.
Therefore, I challenge you to disclose your source of information and produce the identity of those who gave you this jaundiced narration that was neither submitted to the commission of inquiry or the government of Kaduna State.
Mark Jacob is a barrister-at-law, a Christian from Southern Kaduna in Nigeria. He has lost family members to the terrorist attacks by Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen militia. He can be reached by email HERE.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
