Former governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai, has spoken on his strained relationship with people in the Southern part of the state, accusing some individuals from the area of having “entitlement mentality”.
Speaking in an interview programme on Channels Television on Sunday, El-Rufai said he dealt with the Southern Kaduna people just like he dealt with members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) led by Ibraheem El- Zakzaky “who thought that they could do anything and get away with it.”
The former governor, who is being accused of marginalising the Christian-dominated Southern part of the state during his eight years in office, said he had no regrets over his actions.
El-Rufai said, “They can think what they think, and I don’t tolerate nonsense. Governance is not a joke. When you are governing 10 million people as I did in Kaduna, you must not discriminate between A and B.
“Nobody can blackmail me because he is a Christian, and the law doesn’t apply to him.”
He said, “There are people in Southern Kaduna who feel entitled to behave in a certain way, and I didn’t take it. I dealt with them just as the IMN Zakzaky people who thought that they could do anything they wanted and get away with it.
“El-Zakzaky people are Muslims just like me, but I didn’t take any nonsense from them. I don’t care. The people who think I am a fundamentalist have never met me. They have formed their opinion.”
He further claimed that his critics are driven by resentment rather than facts.
El-Rufai said, “The reason why my enemies are very vehement at hating me is because I don’t care what they think.
That’s the way I am. I am very comfortable with who I am and what I am. I don’t care about what you think. Those who worked closely with me know me.
“Some of the closest people I worked with and empowered are from Southern Kaduna. They know me.
“But there are some entitled Southern Kaduna Christian leaders who are used to getting money every month, who are being used to giving $20,000 dollars for medical checkups every year.
“I stopped it, I stopped funding pilgrimage just as I stopped many things that were wasting government resources.”
On the issue of representation, El-Rufai argued that Southern Kaduna’s population does not warrant the level of political patronage it expects.
According to him, the population of the eight Local Governments that made up Southern Kaduna is less than 30 per cent.
“Where do you think is the quantum of the Christian population in Kaduna state? What percentage?” They are not up to 30 per cent. If they are not up to that, why do they feel entitled to 50 per cent of positions in the government?”he asked.
He said, “The eight Local Governments of Southern Kaduna accounted for 60 per cent of the civil servants when I was governor, so who is talking about marginalisation?”
He added that some complaints of marginalisation stemmed from expectations shaped by previous governments.
“For Southern Kaduna to send a delegation to me after announcing my cabinet to say that they had been short-changed, that they got only 25 or 30 percent of the positions because they are used to 50 per cent, and I said on what basis?
“The PDP was rigging elections in Southern Kaduna. They were writing results to overturn the results of the elections of the majority in Northern Kaduna, so they gave them 50 per cent.
“I didn’t rig my election, I won.”
El-Rufai said appointments under his administration were made based on equality across the three senatorial districts in the state.
“There are three senatorial districts in the state. We made appointments on the equality of senatorial districts. This is the feeling of entitlement that I faced.
I had to bring everyone down to the level of reality. I am not going to encourage self-entitlement or use violence to negotiate,” he said.
Also responding to a question on the controversial Muslim-Muslim ticket, El-Rufai insisted that it was a political, not religious, strategy.
He said, “I supported Muslim-Muslim ticket. It was a political strategy to win the election. It was not a religious strategy.
“When you are contesting an election, you look at every variable, every index, and every crateria that will help you. That is what people do! It has nothing to do with religion.
“We have done a Muslim-Muslim ticket now. Tell me in what way Christians are now shortchanged?
“No leader who wants to succeed will limit his choice of appointees to a particular religion or ethnicity. If you have to succeed, you have to diversify…
“I did Muslim-Muslim ticket in Kaduna, I want to know which Christian was shortchanged because of the Muslim-Muslim ticket.”
El-Rufai: There are people in Southern Kaduna with “entitlement” mentality
