Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, says the 2023 elections present Nigerians with the opportunity to take religion out of politics and punish politicians who use it as a tool.
The governor on Tuesday, December 27, 2022, asked royal fathers and scholars to pray for credible elections and improved security.
He spoke at the commissioning ceremony of the head office of the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development,
“I want to use the opportunity to call on our leaders here, the royal fathers, our scholars to continue to pray for peaceful and credible elections, continue to pray for improved security in our country, and for Allah to choose for this country who is the best leaders that will unite and move the country forward.
“I am concerned as a citizen, as a governor, and as a Muslim about the way and manner some of the politicians have gone about campaigning using religion and ethnic division as a tool. And your Eminence I think this election causes for us a very unique opportunity to take religion out of politics in Nigeria and punish those that are trying to use religion as a tool,” he said.
The APC chieftain and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory also appealed to the royal fathers and scholars to communicate to the people in order to ensure that future elections do not centre around religion but around what a person can do to improve a lot of ordinary people.
“Our people are united in their poverty, in their need for education, for a decent healthcare and to put food on their table, that is what unites us, that is what we should focus on. But some people are campaigning in churches, some are holding internal meetings with religious leaders to promote ethnic and religious division, it is the last thing Nigeria needs now at a time when the whole world is facing challenges ultra-nationalism and global supply chain disruption,” El-Rufai added.
Remove Petrol Subsidy Immediately – Governor El-Rufai Tells FG
Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, has called for the immediate removal of petrol subsidy.
He made the call, on Monday, November 14, 2022, at the “State-of-the-State” session at the on-going NESG, in Abuja.
El-Rufai disclosed that governors of the 36 states and federal government officials, at the National Economic Council, had agreed to the removal of the petrol subsidy, in September 2021.
He expressed surprise that President Muhammadu Buhari failed to implement the decision, despite the immense fiscal pressure the subsidy has brought on government finances and the corruption associated with it.
According to him, there was no transparency in the administration of the subsidy, which should have forced the federal government to end the regime before now.
The governor also said that the NEC envisaged that without removing the subsidy, a time would come when the Nigerian National Petroleum Company would say that the nation’s entire monthly oil earnings had been spent on subsidy.
Go Figure: ‘2023 Elections Threatened By Insurgency,’ Governor El-Rufai Says
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State says banditry and insurgency still pose a major threat to the 2023 general elections and population census if not nipped in the bud.
He made this known on Friday, November 4, 2022, when he received the state’s quarterly security report presented by the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan on Friday.
According to the report, a total of 446 people were killed while 1,789 others were equally kidnapped by bandits across the state in the last six months.
The government also disclosed that 152 bandits were killed and 624 others arrested by troops in different parts of the state during the period under review.
On his part, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who was present at the presentation, insisted that the security situation in the country has tremendously improved, lamenting that the security alert issued by the United States embassy in Nigeria, has just set the nation in panic mood and as well terrorised the citizens.
Kaduna, located in the North-West zone, has had its own share of hightened attacks by bandits and terrorists in the past five years, with several lives lost, thousands kidnapped and means of livelihood disrupted.
Source: ChannelsTV
