El-Rufai not ready for peace in Kaduna, SOKAPU alleges

Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) has alleged that Governor Nasir el-Rufai is not ready for peace in the state.

According to SOKAPU, until the governor renders apology to Southern Kaduna people and the elders over his derogatory comments against them, it will be taken that the peace process of the government is a ruse.

Speaking on the peace summit organised to resolve the crisis in Southern Kaduna, SOKAPU spokesman, Luka Binniyat, explained why the union boycotted the exercise, adding: “Southern Kaduna leaders are always ready to participate in any genuine peace process in the state.”

The governor, he said, decided to initiate the peace summit as a face-saving measure.

He noted: “This is after he had called our leaders names and openly supported the Fulani herdsmen against our people in Southern Kaduna.

“We are not against the peace summit. But what is happening in southern Kaduna is strange. What is happening under the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is that our rural communities are being taken over by Fulani militia who are killing our people. They have waged relentless war against Christian communities. So, what the United States President Donald Trump told him is true.”

SOKAPU claimed that since 2015, the attacks were targeted at Christian communities, adding that Buhari and el-Rufai were not saying the truth.

“They are only trying to save face under intense criticism of the genocide and atrocities.

“Kidnapping of Christians in Chikun and Kajuru gulped N400 million as ransom to the Fulani kidnappers. There is no week this year that pastors have not been kidnapped or killed,” the group stated.

Binniyat argued that under a genuine peace process, the organisers should have called those directly affected by the crisis and the perpetrators of the violence for discussion to arrive at a true peace accord.

“The people who are displaced are still living under sub-human conditions. There are no representatives of the victims. Those who perpetrated the violence are not there. They only brought the intellectuals, government officials and their party men. They talk against victims. The murderers and villains are not there at the peace table. We don’t know if they included them. Who is talking on their behalf?

“So, there is need to know them. They are inviting communities as observers, instead as participants. That is not how to bring about enduring peace. If you are talking about a genuine peace process, you have to bring the victims and those who perpetrated the atrocities together. How can there be peace if the more than 50,000 people displaced cannot go back to their homes and communities. How can there be peace if the invaders are still occupying the communities,” he said.