Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai came under attacks yesterday for alleging that the governments were engaging in appeasement of bandits.
According to him, hefty sums were being paid to the bandits to keep the peace.
The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and Kaduna State government chided him for making wild claims.
He was cautioned against stoking violence in Kaduna.
The North-Central All Progressives Congress (NC-APC) Forum also knocked the former governor.
El-Rufai, a former APC leader, now a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), described giving money to bandits as empowering them to prolong their evil actions.
He also delved into the 2027 presidential race, claiming that President Tinubu would be third.
In separate statements, ONSA and the Kaduna State Government accused El-Rufai of politicising the security challenge in the country instead of seeing it as a ‘collective struggle’.
They dismissed the former governor’s allegation as not only ‘baseless’ but provocative and manipulative.
ONSA said in a statement by its Director of Legal Services, Zakari Mijinyawa: ‘The allegations by El-Rufai are not only false but also contradict verifiable facts on the ground’.
The statement clarified that neither the ONSA nor any government agency under President Tinubu administration has ever engaged in ransom payments or inducements to criminals.
The statement reads: ‘From inception, this government adopted a dual strategy: decisive kinetic operations alongside community engagements aimed at addressing local grievances.
‘The result is evident in areas such as Igabi, Birnin Gwari, Giwa, and other parts of Kaduna State that once suffered untold terror but are now experiencing relative peace’.
It also explained that the kinetic operations have led to both the capture and elimination of notorious bandits. According to ONSA, in Kaduna alone, notorious kingpins who once terrorised residents, including Boderi, Baleri, Sani Yellow Janburos, Buhari and Boka, were eliminated.
The ONSA added that recently, leaders of Ansaru who had established bases in Kaduna were also apprehended.
‘For a former governor of a state in the person of El-Rufai to deny these sacrifices on national television is both unfair and deeply insulting to the memories of our security personnel’, it said.
It cautioned El-Rufai and all political actors to refrain from dragging national security institutions into partisan conflicts, emphasising that the fight against banditry is a ‘collective struggle, not a platform for political point-scoring’.
The Kaduna State Government accused El-Rufai of plotting to destabilise the state through ‘provocation, manipulation and lies’.
It claimed that the former governor was bent on dragging the state back to its ‘dark and violent past’ after the defeat of his political allies in the August 16 by-elections.
The government added that el-Rufai’s recent actions, including convening an ‘illegal and chaotic’ political meeting that degenerated into violence on 30 August, were a clear attempt by him to provoke instability’.
In the statement by its Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Suleiman Shuiabu, the government said el-Rufai’s remarks were ‘incendiary, malicious, and an insult to the sacrifices of security agencies and communities who have worked to restore peace’.
It stated that the joint efforts of security forces and community-led peace initiatives under Governor Uba Sani have brought relative calm to troubled areas of the state.
Like the ONSA, the government pointed out that notorious bandit leaders such as Boderi, Baleri, Sani Yellow, Janburos, Buhari and Boka had been eliminated, while Ansaru leaders who once operated in parts of Kaduna have been arrested.
‘For a former governor to deny these victories and insult the memory of fallen officers is not only shameful but dangerous’, it added.
The government described El-Rufai’s tenure as governor of the state as one marked by ‘ethno-religious division, fear and exclusion’.
‘Kaduna has transitioned from the brink of collapse to a growing beacon of hope, unity, and development’, it said.
Also, the NC-APC Forum accused the former governor ‘spreading propaganda and lies’.
In a statement by its Chairman, Saleh Zazzaga, the forum said: ‘It is necessary to state that the security situation in the country did not degenerate under President Tinubu administration, but what is not in doubt is that Mr. President has taken the challenge head-on and has made considerable progress in addressing the problem’, said the forum.
‘The claim is baseless, as there is no record of the Tinubu administration engaging in payments to bandits and criminals’.
‘El-Rufai’s claim that insecurity has increased in parts of the North-Central is equally false. We are aware that the claim is part of the campaign of propaganda and lies that he has embarked on since missing out on President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
‘We advise Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to leave the North-Central out of his lies. The North-Central is with Mr. President, and El-Rufai is engaged in a futile mission if he thinks he can come between the President and the people of the region’.
El-Rufai’s claim that President Tinubu would lose the 2027 poll was also got dismissed by Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike.
El-Rufai had on the same television station programme said: ‘ President Tinubu will be third in the 2027 election. I have done my Mathematics, and I can tell you, President Tinubu has no pathway to win. The worst-case scenario is that there will not be any winner in the first ballot’.
But Wike said on another national television programme yesterday that he could place a bet with confidence that Tinubu would win convincingly.
Stating that El-Rufai’s projections and calculations were flawed, the FCT minister wondered why he did not specify who would come first and second in the election.
Wike also asserted that Peter Obi would pose no threat to President Tinubu in 2027, even though he had six million votes in 2023.
He noted that political dynamics have since changed.
