El-Rufai playing dangerous games with “Islamisation” comments, says group

The Middle Belt Forum (MBF), says immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai is a dangerous politician who has continued to play religious politics unmindful of the fact that Nigeria is a multi-religious country.

The group was reacting to what it described as wherein he told some Islamic preachers how he, with others, plotted to enthrone the same-faith ticket in Kaduna State that was later successfully replicated at the federal level.

On the eve of his handing over to incoming Governor Uba Sani, El-Rufai was captured in a video while addressing Muslim clerics saying he and others were determined to ensure the Muslim-Muslim ticket was sustained for another 20 years to ensure Christians come to terms with the indispensability of the same-faith ticket as a panacea for peace in both Kaduna State and the federal level.

The MBF, in the statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Isuwa Dogo, said the “provocative pronouncements” by el-Rufai was not only inciting but dangerous for the country.

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The group also advised President Bola Tinubu and Sani to deal with the former Governor at arm’s length so they would not fall for his plans.

“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,” the statement reads.

“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.

“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 DSS and other 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.

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“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.”