Apostle Johnson Suleiman of Omega Fire Ministries has asked that Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State be made to account for the murderous Fulani herdsmen who allegedly have been mowing down Christians in his enclave.
The call comes on the heels of his planned interrogation today (Monday) by operatives of the Department of State Security Services (DSS) for alleged incisive comments capable of deepening inter ethnic conflicts. Emerging reports say Suleiman would make an appearance in the company of some thirty lawyers.
Not to be cowed, Suleiman on Sunday, through a statement signed by his Communications Adviser, Phrank Shaibu, challenged the Federal Government to compel El-Rufai to produce the herdsmen he had been pacifying with money in order to stop the killings in Southern Kaduna.
He argued that unless the governor was made to face charges of murder and other related crimes, it would be difficult to convince the populace that there was no orchestrated effort to eliminate Christians in the State.
The statement read in part, “The governor of Kaduna State confessed that he paid money to some Fulani herdsmen as compensation to stop the killings in Southern Kaduna. That means he knows those who have committed atrocities against Christians. El-Rufai must be made to produce them to answer charges of murder and other crimes. El-Rufai can be safely regarded as an apologist of the herdsmen and with a fact.
“On July 12, 2012, he tweeted the following, ‘We will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it takes.”
It added that, “In a recent chat with newsmen in Kaduna, the governor made different remarks to substantiate his love for the herdsmen and their activities. First, he said when he became governor, he traced the attackers to Cameroon, Chad, and Niger and sent a message to them that one of their own, a Fulani like them, was now governor. This comment displays a dramatically bigoted mindset.
“A governor of a state in Nigeria was making appeals based on ethnic kinship and brotherhood to a group of foreign killers of people in his state! In other words, he was appeasing his murderous foreign kinsmen at the expense of indigenes of his state who are not his ethnic kinsmen but whose safety and interests he swore to defend.”
The statement further claimed that, “The governor’s shocking statement indicates that ethnic solidarity trumped his constitutional obligations to protect Southern Kaduna citizens from the external threats of foreign Fulani herdsmen.
“There’s no end to the killing of Christians in Kaduna. Those behind the heinous crime are known to the governor. Yet no one has been charged with murder. Instead, people like us, who speak the truth, are being persecuted. The Federal Government must not give the impression of partiality or suggests that Christians are the target of this administration.”
In calling for El-Rufai’s prosecution, Apostle Suleiman asked, “Which is worse? Saying the truth or offering money to murderers? Did El-Rufai offer money to ghosts? For you to pay someone money, the person must have a known and fixed address. As the chief security officer of the state, was it not his business to arrest and put these hoodlums on trial? How come no one has been caught or being prosecuted for the massacre in Southern Kaduna? Obviously, there is more to it than meets the eye.”
Suleiman’s planned interrogation has raised serious tension with Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State alleging that there were plans to detain him and Bishop Oyedepo of Winners Chapel perpetually.
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