The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, says the Fulani tribe will always take revenge whenever they suffer injustice.
He, however, said they accept their fate whenever they are convicted of a crime.
El-Rufai said this on Thursday during a webinar organised by the Africa Leadership Group.
The governor was asked to clarify his tweet in 2012 wherein he said, “Anyone, soldier or not, that kills the Fulani, takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it takes.”
El-Rufai had been asked why he made the comment and if the Igbo would be justified to take revenge on other Nigerians that killed them during the Biafran war.
In his response, the governor said, “If a Fulani man dies in war, it is different. If a Fulani man is arrested by the authorities and convicted, it is not an issue. What the Fulani never forgets is when he is innocently targeted and killed and the authorities do nothing. He will never forget and he will come back for revenge. This is it.
“So, it is better to understand the context given the context of what I tweeted which had to do with an issue in Plateau State in 2012. I hope you get the context. So, it is not that Fulani will never forget. Anyone that goes through pain and sorrow either forgets or doesn’t forget but when it is extrajudicial, when it is extra-official, the attitude is completely different.
“This is the context in which Fulani never forgets. It is not in every context. As I said, I lost relations during the war. It doesn’t mean I still hold a grudge. We’ve moved past that.”
Governor El-Rufai has been the subject of controversy as he’s constantly being accused of being among leaders believed to be responsible for insecurity in the country.
A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Obadiah Mailafia who without mentioning a name, claimed that one of North’s Governors, is the sponsor of Boko Haram.
He said, “Some of us also have our intelligence networks. I have met with some of the bandits; we have met with some of their high commanders – one or two who have repented – they have sat down with us not once, not twice.
“They told us that one of the northern governors is the commander of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Boko Haram and the bandits are the same. They have a sophisticated network. During this lockdown, their planes were moving up and down as if there was no lockdown.”
It is not the first time the Kaduna State Governor has been accused of sponsoring Boko Haram. A former Army Chief General Onyeabor Azubuike Ihejirika who spoke with Vanguard before Buhari emerged as President in 2015, said Nasir El-Rufai, who is now Kaduna State Governor, is the actual sponsor of the terror group.
“The likes of El-Rufai have been supporting Boko Haram. In fact, El-Rufai and his likes are the same group of people that ensured the army did not get the requested equipment to deal with this menace once and for all, as they used their cohorts to tell the government that procuring modern equipment was not necessary.”
“It is the same group of El-Rufai that started the human right abuses campaign. It was done to block any international assistance after the state of emergency was declared and the sect was initially tamed. That gave Boko Haram time and respite to build up again,” he added.
Lastly, late Afenifere spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, also said, “Don’t forget that in 2016, (Nasir) El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State told the nation that he went out of this country to go and pay money to foreign Fulanis who are coming to kill his people. The governor of Bauchi has been defending the right to gunmen carrying AK-47 saying they are using it to defend themselves. When you put all these together, we can no longer pretend that people in government know what is going on.”
