SOKAPU, ex-deputy governor trade words over southern Kaduna crisis

Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) and former deputy governor of Kaduna State, Bala Bantex, are trading words over the alleged support of Nasir el-Rufai’s government to the attack and killings in the southern part of the state by armed herdsmen.

SOKAPU president, Jonathan Asake, in a television programme monitored in Kaduna, accused Bantex of not showing empathy to Kaduna South indigenes when the herders attacked communities and killed hundreds.

Asake said that Bantex had joined forces with el-Rufai in the marginalisation of southern Kaduna people and showed no concern over their plight when they were attacked.

He said: “As I sit here with the former deputy governor, my heart bleeds because of what is going on now in Southern Kaduna and the communities.

“The deputy governor knows what it takes to bring our people together and talk about some of these problems, but he has not done that. It is unfortunate.”

But Bantex said that in many fora, he had been vilified for alleged anti-government policies against Southern Kaduna, adding that he was also concerned about the problem.

He said that Governor El-Rufai, in his first term, saddled him with the responsibility of ensuring that peace returned to southern Kaduna.

“It is the rumours peddled by people that the government was involved in the killings that incited the youths against the government. I know the pains we went through to control the problems,” he added.