North Central regional group, Middle Belt Forum (MBF) yesterday, described the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, as a dangerous politician and asked the Department of State Service (DSS), to invite him for questioning, in view of recent Islamisation comment credited to him.
The MBF, in a statement on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr Isuwa Dogo, said El-Rufai’s remarks were anti-Christian, describing him as a dangerous politician that must be avoided by President Bola Tinubu.
In the video complained about, El-Rufai was captured telling some Islamic clerics on the eve of his final day in office, in Hausa language that “Why did I pick Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe to be my deputy in 2019? First, I did a thorough calculation that most of those that are not Muslims don’t vote for our party (the All Progressives Congress). Most of them. So, why should I give them the deputy (governor) position?
“I did my calculation and I knew we could win the election without giving them (position of deputy governor). That’s first. That’s a purely political issue. It’s politics. You want to win an election, you’re looking for people that will vote for you. We have observed that since we started practising democracy, we know places we used to win elections and those places we don’t. We’ve done that calculation politically. That’s the political point of it.”
The MBF, in its statement, said El-Rufai’s comment validated the fear of Islamisation in the country.
But Dogo said what el-Rufai never told his selected preachers “was that the state he ruled and ruined for eight years was turned into Nigeria’s headquarters of kidnappings and human barbarities that led to the murder of tens of thousands of people and decimation of over 100 communities under his watch.
MBF said, “There is no doubt that this former governor remains a clear present and future danger to the unity of our nation. He is subtly working for a group that is unremittingly and persistently poised at installing the supremacy of the Islamic faith in the corridor of power.
“Both Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should be wary of associating with him.
“This little but dangerous manipulator, who is skilled in the politics of deploying religious sentiments, must not be allowed near the corridors of power. He has become a national evil that must be avoided at all costs.
“The forum calls on the Nigerian security agencies not only to place the former governor under its radar but he should be invited by the secret police for a chat.
“Considering the comments he made before the clerics, the man who suffers from an inferiority complex must be considered as a dangerous politician riding on the wings of religion for relevance.
“We, hereby, denounce el-Rufai’s comments before the clerics as a shameless act of national hypocrisy steeped in the premeditated plot to set adherents of both religions on warpath.”
Dogo described as outrageous deceitful attempts by el-Rufai “and his nebulous co-travellers to push our nation down the slippery slope of religious tension and bigotry.”
He said the outrage over the el-Rufai video clip demonstrated the level of disappointment by Nigerians over the former governor’s outburst that was aimed at inflaming religious conflagration in order to destabilize the Nigerian state.
He said: “The unfortunate comments by this bigot, who is erroneously thought of as a nationalist and public intellectual, portray him as a divisive leader, who not only thrives in creating chaos but also reveal him as an irredeemable religious extremist whose antecedents as governor showcases him as a treacherous enemy of Nigeria that must be barred from the corridor of power.
“Even before now, the forum has never been deceived by the pretentiousness of the former governor whose stock in trade is divisiveness hidden under the thin covering of public intellectualism and patriotism.
“When the Senate declared the man who speaks before he thinks incapable of holding public office, not a few agreed to the recommendation of the upper chamber of the National Assembly. Sadly, he found himself in power and unleashed his venom of sadism on both Christians and Muslims.”
