Kaduna state, more than any other north-western state is blessed with multiple ethnic groups. There are at least 59 tribes dwelling in Kaduna state.
The southern Kaduna is predominantly a Christian community, with a good number of Hausa/Fulani Muslims also living in some parts of the area.
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The northwest as a region is today unfortunately facing an unprecedented level of insecurity; kidnappings, cattle rustling, maiming and killings of farmers and others etc.
I have come across posts and comments comparing and equating the crisis in southern Kaduna with the killings in other parts of the northwest, which I disagree.
The killings in southern Kaduna are most of the times, I believe, communal clashes, farmer- herder conflicts and reprisals, the handling of which requires tact and diplomacy among other conflict resolution skills.
Even though every leader has his/her style, inspiring the confidence of feuding parties by a leader is a necessary foundation for the resolution of whatever issue (s). The neutrality of the leader must not be in doubt. This makes me have a problem with the approach of Governor Nasiru Ahmad El Rufai as he tries to manage the situation. I believe he should try to, not only operate above the fray, be seen to be doing so by all parties.
Crises in southern Kaduna are age-old, and successive governments had come up with measures they felt would best address the issues and they were commended or criticised, depending on who the analysts were. But there had never been a time that the government and a party to any conflict were seen to so be utterly antagonistic towards one another as obtained at the moment. This is because rightly or wrongly, the southern Kaduna elements believe the government has taken sides against them. The government, on the other hand does not help matters by not being circumspect and being seen to be above board. For instance, the governor’s reported confession sometime in 2016 that he was in touch with perpetrators of some of the criminalities and was in fact paying them to stop it was ill-thought. This in my opinion even if true, is not for the consumption of the public. Do whatever you have to do as a leader to secure the lives and properties of your people, but they must not necessarily know everything.
Certain utterances are not expected from a leader, even if they are true. To me statements such as southern Kaduna leaders expecting brown envelopes should not have come from the leader so is the stand that there are people that government would not even talk to. If we are truly looking for a lasting solution, no element or tendency should be precluded from the dialogue. When seeking for solution you involve and be fair to every party, even when you think one is the problem.
Already there is a wide gap of unity in Kaduna state, and the governor should do better than engage in utterances, actions and in-actions that further destroy the bridge of unity.
I was privileged to have actively participated in a Judicial Commission of Enquiry on the incessant communal crisis in southern Kaduna. The experience was as terrifying, as it was informing. You could see the hate on the faces of both parties. It was obvious all parties were not interested in solution, but to point fingers and label the other as the perpetrator.
The governor needs to borrow a leaf or two from his predecessors on how to manage the crisis in Kaduna state.
I leave the governor with the words of Henry Ford “Don’t find the fault, find the remedy”
Auwal Mukhtar Sirajo ESQ. wrote from Kaduna
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