The
General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleman, on Sunday
challenged the Federal Government to compel the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir
El-Rufai, to produce the Fulani herdsmen he gave money.
The
governor, he said, should be made to answer charges of murder and other related
crimes against humanity.
The
fiery cleric made the demand in a statement issued by his Communications
Adviser, Phrank Shaibu.
He
said naming the beneficiaries of the money would disabuse the minds of
Nigerians of the conflict that Christians were the targets of incessant attacks
by Fulani herdsmen.
This
came as the cleric prepares to appear before the Department of State Services
today with not less than 30 lawyers for reportedly asking members of his church
to defend themselves against attacks by Fulani herdsmen.
He
advised security agents not to allow politicians and ethnic warlords to use
them, warning that such a development might lead to grave consequences for
Nigeria.
According
to him, failure to compel El-Rufai to produce the herdsmen who purportedly
collected money from the Kaduna State Government would be an indication of the
insincerity of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.\
“The
governor of Kaduna State confessed that he paid money to some Fulani herdsmen
as compensation to stop the killings in Southern Kaduna. That means he knows
those who have committed atrocities against Christians. El-Rufai must be made
to produce them to answer charges of murder and other crimes. El-Rufai can be
safely regarded as an apologist of the herdsmen and with a fact.
“On
July 12, 2012, he tweeted the following, ‘We will write this for all to read.
Anyone, soldier or not that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable one day no
matter how long it takes.”
Suleman
said the governor’s response to the killings in Southern Kaduna had been
consistent with this mindset.
He
said, “In a recent chat with newsmen in Kaduna, the governor made different
remarks to substantiate his love for the herdsmen and their activities. First,
he said when he became governor, he traced the attackers to Cameroon, Chad, and
Niger and sent a message to them that one of their own, a Fulani like them, was
now governor. This comment displays a dramatically bigoted mindset.
“A
governor of a state in Nigeria was making appeals based on ethnic kinship and
brotherhood to a group of foreign killers of people in his state! In other
words, he was appeasing his murderous foreign kinsmen at the expense of
indigenes of his state who are not his ethnic kinsmen but whose safety and
interests he swore to defend.
“The
governor’s shocking statement indicates that ethnic solidarity trumped his
constitutional obligations to protect Southern Kaduna citizens from the
external threats of foreign Fulani herdsmen.”
The
Federal Government, Suleman said, would be engaging in double standards by
asking the DSS to invite him while allowing El-Rufai to move about freely.
According
to him, the fact that the governor has immunity does not preclude him from
investigation.
“There’s
no end to the killing of Christians in Kaduna. Those behind the heinous crime
are known to the governor. Yet no one has been charged with murder. Instead,
people like us, who speak the truth, are being persecuted. The Federal
Government must not give the impression of partiality or suggests that
Christians are the target of this administration,” he added.
Suleman
wondered why his recent speeches had been taken differently by agents of the
Federal Government when all he had done was to remain consistent in telling the
truth.
He
said, “Which is worse? Saying the truth or offering money to murderers? Did
El-Rufai offer money to ghosts? For you to pay someone money, the person must
have a known and fixed address. As the chief security officer of the state, was
it not his business to arrest and put these hoodlums on trial? How come no one
has been caught or being prosecuted for the massacre in Southern Kaduna?
Obviously, there is more to it than meets the eye.”
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