Kaduna APC chief flays El-Rufai’s sack of district, village heads

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State, Mataimaki Tom Maiyashi ‎has decried the recent sacking of district and village heads, saying the development would pose security challenges in the state, if not reversed.

Maiyashi, a former Commissioner for Education made the call while speaking with journalists in Kaduna yesterday. According to him, the affected district and village heads play a major role in their domains, particularly in the area of security.

He said Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s decision to relieve several of them of their jobs was not a plus to the APC. “The traditional leaders who have ‎lived with their people are very important as they help to solve their immediate problems and challenges. They interact with their people and because they live with them, they could easily resolve crisis.

“If there are challenges in their domain, they know what to do because they get information on any stranger in their area and the fundamentals of humanity is identity and community identity is very important,” he said.

He explained that if they were sacked due to lack of funds to pay their salaries as the state government claimed, their role in maintaining law and order within their domains was more than the salaries.

“The state government will pay more if there are security challenges. So why pay more when you can pay less by keeping them. In fact, the most senior district‎ or village head may not take home more than N50, 000 at the end of the month. Some of them don’t live on their salaries.”

Maiyashi advised the state government to do a capacity ‎assessment of their roles to effectively carry out their jobs, and also organise capacity building programmes for them, as they cannot be a people without identity.

He also faulted the process of their sack, adding that the committee comprised civil servants who failed to consult with the traditional leaders‎ until their report leaked.

Maiyashi, therefore, called on the state government to consider the possible security ‎implication of their sack and reconsider it’s decision.