TheCable

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, says he will sue Paul Enenche (pictured), senior pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre (DIGC), over an alleged incitement.

El-Rufai said this on Thursday when Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, paid him a visit in Kaduna.

Over 50 people including a traditional ruler were killed in a religious conflict in Kaduna in October.

Reacting to the development in a video clip that surfaced online, Eneche had said the governor knew about the abduction and death of Maiwada Galadima, paramount ruler of Adara Chiefdom, because he invited him.

The pastor said he was told that there was a move by the state government to bring all chiefdom under an emirate system but Galadima rejected.

But el-Rufai said he has never invited any chief except when they write that they want to see him.

The governor said he could depose any traditional ruler or abolish any chiefdom in the state under the law.

“The recent crisis we had in Kaduna metropolis in Kasuwan Mageni was largely as a result of hate speech. The second round of crisis was because rumours started circulating that the abducted chief of Agada had been killed and within an hour 22 people were killed and it was totally false,” he said.

“By the time you create a lie that this the case of 22 people, consequences will follow and even though the ransom was paid and he was free before he got to three road, the kidnappers shot and killed him.

“What was the story? The story circulating was that I invited the chief to a meeting and told him that his chiefdom will become and emirate and he disagreed with me and when he was abducted, it was implied that I arranged the abduction. This is what started the crisis and it is totally false.

“I have never invited any chief except when they write to see me. I can depose him. Why will I threaten him? I can abolish his chiefdom or emirate under the law. But this was the story circulating and it raised tension and many people were killed. The programme you launched against fake news is commendable and should be sustained.

“There was a clip going round, a pastor in Abuja that said I was the one that arranged the abduction and murder of the agom of Kachia. I have filed a complaint to the IG. We intend to bring him to Kaduna to try him.

“The clip was circulated in Kaduna and he is in Abuja, we will get him. We know the agents of this kind of careless statements and what is most unfortunate is that the guiltiest people that people that we assume should be responsible, pastors, imams and very important people in the society.”

He described fake news and hate speech as fundamental problems confronting the society.

“It is not only the president that was said to be cloned. I am also someone from Mali. Somebody went to my Wikipedia page and changed my birthplace to Bamako, Mali. That the real el-Rufai died when he went on exile in 2009,” the governor said.

“These things are becoming common, you have a whole range of gullible people. We must do something otherwise we are all in danger.”