$9.3m Saga: Kaduna Youths Warn El-Rufai Over Oritsejafor Abuse

A group, Kaduna Patriotic Youths for Development (KYPD), has cautioned a gubernatorial aspirant under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Nasiru el-Rufai, to desist from making inflammatory statement on the personality of President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, so as not to cause religious crisis in the state. A statement in Kaduna, on Sunday, by the group, signed by its National Coordinator, Mr Danladi Abubakar and general secretary, Ishaku Irimiya described the former minister’s comments against Oritsejafor as a direct attack on Christians in the country, as well as the church. They said “it is unfortunate that the former minister has remained consistent in his quest to smear the CAN President and indeed the Church of God. This is not the first time El-Rufai has deployed his verbal venom and obvious deep hatred for the CAN leader and indeed the organisation and the community he leads. “We view el-Rufai’s penchant for using abusive and berating statements against CAN leadership as a crass display of arrogance and disrespect for the entire Christian community in Nigeria, which Pastor Oritsejafor leads. “The former minister is known for his disrespect for elders and leaders at all levels in this country, little wonder he has no one to guide his actions which are becoming inimical to the credibility of his own personality.” KYPD said the former Minister’s audacity in calling the CAN President ‘irresponsible’ is a reminder of his ‘tyrannical’ reign as Minister of the FCT saying “Nigerians will never forget how El-Rufai flouted court injunctions to indiscriminately demolish homes while rendering thousands of families homeless including the highly respected late Justice Bashir Sambo, whom he threw out of his home in the middle of a storm.” The concerned youths alerted people of Kaduna State on moves by El-Rufai to contest for governorship of the State in 2015, warning that “Kaduna people must be wary of this accidental politician, who has no respect for human dignity. We fear for the people and we want them to reject El-Rufai and halt his inordinate political ambition even before the primary election of his party. It is clear that his arrogance has not left him and he certainly plans to unleash another regime of tyranny on the people.” KYPD said as a state with diverse ethnic and religious groups, the former minister has already lost the support of Kaduna Christians community, through his regular accusations of the CAN leadership saying “he first accused the CAN President of sponsoring Boko Haram and then now of illegal importation of arms. These are allegations that the former minister cannot substantiate and are only aimed at dragging Christians into the present insurgency in the country.” The group called on the former minister to retract all his negative comments and should desist from using abusive words against the leadership of CAN in future. “We also call on the leadership of CAN and indeed all Christians in Nigeria to ignore El-Rufai. His noise is mere show of desperation from a man lacking direction while lost in the wilderness,” they said.