By A concerned Kaduna Citizen,
Your nomination for ministerial position representing Kaduna State in President Bola Tinubu’s Government did not come as a surprise even though there were hopes that speculations your name is among those penned down prior to the submission in the Senate would be just that – mere speculations. No doubt it’s very disappointing for many, especially for the people of Southern Kaduna who are still struggling to survive the wounds and hurts of the deliberate marginalization they suffered under your leadership as Governor of Kaduna State. The people of Southern Kaduna are concerned that you are too divisive to represent Kaduna State at Federal level in the interest of all the inhabitants of the State and Nigeria as a whole.
A quick review of your reign is sadly indicative of the extremely divisive Governor who destroyed the long standing pillars of religious tolerance and unity of his State’s political space by completely eliminating the political stakeholders of Southern Kaduna origin especially the Christians. Imagine for yourself Sir, Southern Kaduna with 11 Local Government Areas out 23 Local Government Areas have been completely removed from the State’s political power. You bragged about how you imposed the muslim-muslim ticket in the State, deliberately breaking the tradition of inter-faith occupancy of Government House. You ensured that Kaduna State today does not have any Southern Kaduna indigene of the Christian faith in any influential political position. Governor, Deputy Governor, SSG, Speaker, Head of service, Account General etc., are Muslims, pushing your Southern Kaduna brethren to positions of non-relevance. The people of Southern Kaduna still cannot believe that for eight years as Governor you did not nominate a single Southern Kaduna Christian to any federal position, especially for the fact you were a very powerful force in the Buhari regime. Furthermore, the people witnessed how you borrowed funds in the name of the State but used such funds on infrastructure projects in ways that marginalized certain parts of the State.
You left behind a deeply divided State, deeply polarized along ethnic and religious lines. Your utterances and actions were diversionary. You pitched the people against one another. Your employment and infrastructural policies were blatantly discriminatory against a section of the people. You never cared a hoot. You saw governance through the prism of conquering and dominating a section of the state. And, you succeeded in making southern Kaduna indigenes irrelevant in the scheme of things as far as governance is concerned.
In a State where there has been distrust seeped in long held claims of marginalization, by the predominantly Christian South, there has always been deliberate efforts by sitting Chief Executives to maintain equity and fairness in award of appointments and in the distribution of infrastructure. But not so with you, sir. Even during military regimes.
the diversity of the state was taken into account, and to a large extent a balance tried to be maintained among the ethnic and religious groups. Unfortunately, you unleashed an ethno-religious supremacy mentality in running the affairs of the State setting up one religion above the other and one section against the other.
By the time you finished your tenure as Governor, you bragged in a viral video of how you deceived Christians to realize your grandmaster plan of imposing Islamic religious supremacy in Kaduna State but you forgot that by Divine Design the people of Southern Kaduna have the right to live and flourish in Kaduna State because it is their ancestral land, therefore can never be removed not even by terrorists, bandits, herdsmen and federal might. You may have succeeded in dividing the state, marginalizing the people and suppressing them politically but we all know that your legacy cannot last for long. Sir, if you think Kaduna State Muslims truly bought your extremism and bigotry, you are certainly mistaken. Kaduna Muslims are open-minded, accommodating and tolerant. We shall return to our traditional status of political tolerance among Muslims and Christians who will treat each other with respect and dignity.
This letter is just to draw your attention to your failures as Governor and help you rethink your ethno-religious ideologies as you assume office as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. You failed to protect the rights and lives of minorities as Governor. You failed to promote cohesion and unity in Kaduna State. I hope you will truly see reasons to work for all Nigerians irrespective of their tribal and religious affiliations, while learning to promote reconciliation and cohesion among all Nigerians.
