The Islamic dominance in Kaduna had been successfully replicated in Nigeria and that it shall continue – El-Rufai boasts

MaTaZ ArIsInG

A five-minute 43 seconds video of the immediate former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, is generating uproar, especially on social media.

Speaking to his audience before handing over to his successor former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai allegedly to his audience that the Islamic dominance in Kaduna had been successfully replicated in Nigeria.

Below is the interpretation of the speech which El Rufai gave in Hausa:

Now it is true that there has been a lot of talk about unity government. It is true what professor Akintola said. It is we, the governors of APC, that decided power should return to the south because of the agreement that was made. It was a verbal agreement and we stand by it, whether verbal or written, or made in the dark, an agreement is an agreement and we are Muslims. When we saw some people conniving to retain power in the north we refused because we are Muslims. We cannot have an agreement and return to deny it. That is No 1

No 2, we said… who do we think has the power to win an election and who can we use to bring to an end ethnic and religious politics in Nigeria?
It was concluded that it is Asiwaju. When that decision was taken I was not on good terms with Asiwaju. We were fighting but Prof Akintola here came with his people from lagos to say that they are happy that the presidency is zoned to the south but they have a problem, but that the problem is the south west cannot run for the office of the president because every time they want to, they insist it must be a Christian from the South West who will now take a northerner as a vice president, that a Muslim Yoruba will not win, that since Abiola, that has not happened and they want a Muslim Yoruba to run for that office this time around.

I told him let them choose and he said they have chosen Tinubu. I told him we don’t get along with Tinubu and he said for the sake of Islam you have to and I said, it’s done.

As God will have it, Tinubu won, and we said there is no way he will win the election if he does not take a Muslim as a vice because politics is about calculation and we have sat down and calculated that this is the only way. Wallahi talahi we did not do this for ourselves. Maybe others had motives but I know me and governor of Zamfara, Bello Mattawele did not do it for any selfish motive.

Maybe others have, but for us, it is to deal with this issue of ethnicity and religion in politics once and for all and also to give the Muslims in the South West, the Yoruba Muslims a sense of belonging among us Muslims.

Let them rule and to God be the Glory that is what happened inspite of all the conspiracy and religious politics God helped Asiwaju and he won.
What we have succeeded in achieving in Kaduna has been replicated in the whole country.

There is no lair that will come out to say today that he wants to carry out a Christian politics and win. You see what has happened to Peter Obi and where he is today.
Since Asiwaju won, CAN has lost their voice and mouth and that is how we will have peace. After Asiwaju we will again replicate it over and over and over again.

Right now we feel accomplished. We have done our part. Asiwaju has won, mission accomplished.

We just plead with you to pray for him to have capable people that will work with him.

There you have it….

Mr El-Rufai was addressing a group of Muslim clerics in Kaduna after his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared the winner of the governorship election.

Below is the English translation of the statements Mr El-Rufai made in Hausa.

“Why did I pick Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe to be my deputy in 2019? First, I did a thorough calculation that most of those that are not Muslims don’t vote for our party (The All Progressives Congress). Most of them. So, why should I give them the deputy (governor) position? I did my calculation and I knew we could win the election without giving them (position of deputy governor). That’s first. That’s a purely political issue. It’s politics. You want to win an election, you’re looking for people that will vote for you. We have observed that since we started practising democracy, we know places we used to win elections and those places we don’t. We’ve done that calculation politically. That’s the political point of it.

“Secondly, what we wanted to prove to people, and thank God in the last four years, we’ve vindicated ourselves and proved that a government that has a Muslim as governor, a Muslim as deputy governor, a Muslim as SSG (secretary of state government), a Muslim as chief of staff, a Muslim as finance commissioner, we’ll not cheat Christians in Kaduna State. And everywhere we go we tell them “Yes, that’s it; the top government hierarchy in Kaduna State are Muslims but can any Christian in Kaduna prove that we’ve oppressed them? Is there any district that we didn’t renovate schools? Is there any district we didn’t construct a hospital? Is there anywhere that we didn’t construct roads? Is there anywhere that we didn’t help farmers whether they voted for us or not? We’ve given everyone their entitlements.

“Of course, Kubau (Local Government Area) voted for us the most (in Northern Kaduna), so I’ll add something to Kubau because they voted for us. What I’ll give Jaba, I’ll increase it for Kubau because Jaba didn’t vote for us. But we’ve given them their entitlements.

“What you Imams and Ulamas taught us is that leadership in Islam is all about justice. The Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions lived with those that were not Muslims including Jews, Christians and even pagans but they addressed him as El-Amin (trusted one) because he treated them with fairness. Caliphs like Abubakar, Umar, Usman, Ali; all of them did justice to those who were not Muslims. Nobody can say he was oppressed for not being a Muslim. But you’ll prefer the ones who support you. But don’t oppress any.

“I always tell them. When during this campaign season, they said “this and that ” and I replied ‘Yes, we’re looking for those who can deliver. We’re not looking at your religion’. Of course, we consider the religious aspect but I can’t say that. But what I am saying is who is being oppressed? Open up and tell us if this government has treated you unjustly. No answer. Well, no one can say he is used to being engaged in criminal activities, used to being idle but we stopped that. Or you were used to blocking the road and we said if you do it again, this will be the consequences and you know we can do it.

“That’s what we’ve done for four years, myself and my team. And that’s what we still did and Senator Uba Sani and Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe still won their election (as governor and deputy) even with the religious gang up against us. And you the Imams and Ulamas that are here, you were the ones who did the work not even the politicians because the politicians even betrayed us. And he, Senator Uba Sani, knows this. We know it. We’re aware of those who collected money on election day but switched off their phones, slept off and didn’t even bother to come out for the election. But we know the First Aid group members that served as polling agents. Those we paid to protect the votes didn’t do so but the first aid group members did. And we’re grateful for that and may God reward you and the way you dedicated yourself and supported us, I beg you in the name of God to support Senator Uba Sani when he finishes his first four years, he should be re-elected then we can continue to prove to people that Islamic leadership doesn’t discriminate but doesn’t condone deliberate mocking. It doesn’t condone indignity. That’s the only thing we want to prove and we’ve started but this is not the end; we’ll have to do it for at least twenty years and that will make everyone understand.

“So, after Uba (governor) finishes his tenure and gets re-elected again that’ll be sixteen, right? (El Rufai served two terms of eight years as governor). Then we’ll have another tenure which will make it 24 years. That is when everyone will understand and say “Okay, we understand, we know our status” and “We know the Muslims will not oppress us.” That’s it. And you’ll see that there will be peace. I swear to God, this has been our plan from the first day we started APC in the state and God has been helping us with your prayers and commitment, we’re on the right path. May God bless you all.”

MaTaZ ArIsInG

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