Kaduna has lost over 20,000 people to crises, says El-Rufai

Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State yesterday lamented the killings that have taken place in the state, saying no fewer than 20,000 lives have been lost in various crises in the state since 1980.

He said it was also regrettable that in over 35 years and after many crises nobody had been prosecuted for the killings.

El-Rufai who spoke when he received a delegation of the Nigerian Bar Association who paid a solidarity visit on him at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna, said the enforcement of the law and prosecution of perpetrators remained the solution to killings with impunity and vowed to prosecute those found to be behind the recent killings in Jema’a, Zango-Kataf and Kaura local government areas of the state.

The delegation was led by the President, NBA, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud (SAN), first Vice President, Caleb Dajan, National Executive members and other prominent lawyers in the state.

He said a number of arrests had been made and more people would soon be picked up.

He said those encouraging the crisis should be mindful that there were consequences for their actions.

“Since 1980, about 10,000 to 20,000 were killed in Kaduna State during crisis and government did not prosecute anybody. We are determined to end the killings in Kaduna,” he said.

Earlier, the NBA President said he was in Kaduna with his colleagues to express their concern and show solidarity with Kaduna State over the killings in Southern Kaduna.

He said, “The objective of our visit this morning is a much more sober issue of some of the recent happenings in some of the local government areas in the south of the state.”