Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has once again been accused of championing insecurity in country by the National Publicity Secretary of pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin.
Odumakin in an interview with PUNCH on Thursday, said some Northern Governors have clearly been supporting the activities of Boko Haram, bandits, and killer herdsmen in the country, but have been going about their normal business as though they know nothing.
Governor El-Rufai, has previously been targeted, by 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 one and 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 prior to Buhari's emergence 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 were not necessary."
“It is the same group of El-Rufai that started the human right abuses campaign. It was done in order 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.
Meanwhile, Odumakin while reacting to the kidnap of some students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara, in Niger State, said those in government owe Nigerians a lot of explanations.
He said, “It was the late Sani Abacha who said that if the kind of things we are going through continues in the country for more than 48 hours, the executives in the land have questions to answer. At this point, we should be asking our executives in Nigeria; ‘What is going on?’
“They cannot pretend they don’t know what is going on. The way the spokesmen of this regime defend these bandits, the way some governors openly defend them shows clearly that there are people in authority who are aware of the pains that the country is going through at the moment and who for one reason or the other are encouraging it as their benefactors and beneficiaries.
“They are encouraging them for selfish reasons which are not in the interests of the country because for one reason or the other, they are benefitting from what they are doing.
“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 Fulani 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 knows what is going on.”