SOKAPU Urges Sani to Correct Alleged Injustice Against Southern Kaduna by El-Rufai

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), yesterday called on Governor Uba Sani to correct the injustices perpetrated against the Southern Kaduna people by his predecessor.

Speaking in a telephone interview, spokesman of the group, Luka Binniyat, said the union was hopeful that the governor will not continue with the alleged sectional and discriminatory policies of ex-governor Nasir el-Rufai.

He called on the governor to operate an all inclusive government that will be fair to all sections of the state and give them a sense of belonging.

Biniyat urged Sani to do everything within his power to ensure the security of lives and property in the state.

He said: “Our expectations from the government of Uba Sani is that he will significantly turn away from the sectional and discriminatory policies of his predecessor, Nasir el- Rufai and run an all inclusive government.

He noted that the appointments so far made by the governor are not too bad.

“We have seen the appointments he has made of recent, but it is not too bad. We are not scoring him yet, but it is a far departure from the el-Rufai government.

“We understand that the re-appointment of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) who served for eight years under the el-Rufai administration was allowed to stay as a result of passionate appeal or so. So we believe that the SSG is there in acting capacity. The appointments are not totally satisfactory but fairer than el-Rufai’s.

“He has not finished making the appointments. There are commissioners and board appointments to be made, there are still ministers and other federal appointments to be made. So we are expecting that there will be fairness in all these appointments,” he said.

The SOKAPU spokesman urged the governor not to see the Southern Kaduna people as people who are irrationally combative or against a Muslim being the governor of the state.

He said the Southern Kaduna people were against leaders like el-Rufai who did not believe in equality. “We are against any leader who does not take us as equals to Muslims in Kaduna state. We are stakeholders in Kaduna state and should not be treated as inferior.

“El-Rufai finally confessed in a recording that was widely circulated that he is a bigot and a sectional leader,” he stressed, adding that “the legacies of el-Rufai are not legacies that any just and fair minded leader will want to associate himself with.”

He alleged further that el-Rufai created a fourth tier of government that he called “municipal councils”, alleging that the $350 million loan the former governor took was mostly channelled towards the municipal councils.

“El-Rufai excluded Christian areas in the provision of infrastructure. If you go to Kafanchan for example, the area where the emirate is located has nylon tarred roads, street lights and good drainages. The palace of the Emir of Jama’ a was reconstructed.

“Just directly opposite the emirate where our people are living, the roads are dilapidated, drainages have collapsed, you will not believe that we are in the same state and same local government headquarters.

“Throughout the tenure of el-Rufai, there is no one village in Southern Kaduna that benefitted from a two-kilometre road project or culvert or bridge. The loan that he took on our behalf only benefitted a section of the state.

“So it is the turn of Uba Sani to do justice, to balance this inequality and injustice el-Rufai wrought on us,” he said.