By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
The Kaduna State chairman of the Middle Belt Forum, Air Commodore John Bako Ajeye (Rtd), has accused former governor Nasir El-Rufai of leaving the state in ruins through what he described as heartless policies and divisive rhetoric.
Ajeye, who addressed journalists in Kaduna on Friday, said El-Rufai’s administration brought hardship to “hundreds of thousands of residents” through mass demolitions of homes and business premises as well as the dismissal of civil servants.
He condemned recent remarks by El-Rufai on Channels Television, describing them as incendiary and deliberately misleading. According to him, the former governor’s claim that Christians constitute less than 25 percent of Kaduna State’s population was false and contradicted verified data from both independent and government sources.
“The former governor’s interview was a masterclass in deception; a pathetic attempt to rewrite reality and diminish the undeniable political and demographic weight of Southern Kaduna,” Ajeye said.
The Forum stressed that Southern Kaduna, which it noted is part of the Middle Belt community absorbed into the North-West, had long been targeted with falsehoods and demographic manipulation.
“El-Rufai left Kaduna State far more in ruins than he met it. His heartless and cruel policies of wanton demolition of residential areas, business premises, and inhuman mass sack of workers ruined countless lives,” Ajeye added.
He further described El-Rufai as “more of a curse than a blessing” to the state, saying his leadership should never be repeated in any part of Nigeria.
