Kaduna crisis: You’ll be shocked by calibre of people we’ll arrest, says el-Rufai

Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, says people will be shocked by the calibre of “perpetrators” his government will arrest and prosecute for the violence in Southern Kaduna.

Speaking on Tuesday when he received Abubakar Mahmoud, president of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the governor said previous governments had failed to prosecute anyone for crises in Kaduna.

El-Rufai said about 20,000 people had lost their lives to crises in the state since 1980 while noting that his administration is determined to put an end to violence.

“Since 1980, about 10,000 to 20,000 were killed in Kaduna State during crisis and government did not prosecute anybody. We are determined to end the killings in Kaduna,” the governor said.

“Henceforth, the law will fully apply without fear or favour. We have made some arrests and you will be shocked to see the calibre of perpetrators that we are going to arrest and prosecute.

“No matter highly [placed] the person is we will bring him or her to face the full wrath of the law to serve as deterrent to others whom may want to sponsor crisis. Some of the things you are hearing are not true. Some people have made up their minds to spread hatred and falsehood especially in the media.”

The state government had declared a 24-hour curfew in three local governments in a bid to curb the persistent killings in the areas.

The curfew has been relaxed to 12 hours in Zangon-Kataf and Jema’a while the 24-hour curfew is still in force in Kaura.