By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
The Youth Wing of the Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) has claimed responsibility for the petition that prevented former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, from being appointed a minister under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Solomon Simon, the group said their petition to the National Assembly, which was also copied to relevant agencies, outlined why El-Rufai was unfit to hold public office. The petition cited alleged human rights violations, disregard for court orders, abuse of civil service rules, and suppression of press freedom during his tenure as governor.
The group said this evidence influenced the Senate’s decision to withhold his confirmation, which it described as the root of El-Rufai’s “anger and hostility” toward Southern Kaduna. It also accused him of expecting President Tinubu to marginalize Christians nationwide, similar to what they described as his discriminatory policies against Christians in Kaduna.
According to the statement, Southern Kaduna has instead benefited from the current administration with major projects, including the University of Applied Sciences and a Federal Medical Centre. The group argued that this progress explains El-Rufai’s recent criticism of their people in a national television interview.
The youths condemned his comments describing Southern Kaduna as violent, entitled, and dominated by the civil service, insisting such remarks were divisive and prejudiced. They urged him to retract his statements and apologize, stressing that Kaduna belongs equally to Christians and Muslims, Hausa and non-Hausa alike.
SOKAPU maintained that the people of Southern Kaduna remain committed to peace, unity, and national development, and would not be distracted by “reckless speech” or attempts to misrepresent them.
