El-Rufai Says Indigenes/Settlers’ Dichotomy Broken As Agwai C’ttee On Southern Kaduna Killings Submits Report

El-Rufai and AgwaiGovernor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State has vowed to implement the recommendations of both the late Governor Ibrahim Yakowa and Gen. Martins Agwai (retd.) Special Committee on the Killings in Southern Kaduna.
The late Yakowa had shortly after assuming office in 2010, set up a Peace and Reconciliation Committee and the report was left untouched by his successor, Mukhtar Yero, until he was defeated in the last general elections.
El-Rufai, on his part, established the Agwai Special Committee on Southern Kaduna Killings towards finding lasting solution to the killing in the southern part of the state.
He gave the committee one month to submit the report.
Speaking when he received the reports of the Agwai-led 19-member committee at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna, on Wednesday, the governor promised to fully implement the recommendations of the two reports for peace to reign in the state.
Gen. Agwai (retd.), who is a former Chief of Defence Staff and hails from Southern Kaduna, said that in the course of the committee’s assignment, it was discovered that the 2011 post-election crisis fuelled the current violence in that part of the state.
Part of the recommendations of the committee was the indigenes /settlers’ dichotomy in the state.
The governor said all residents of the state were entitled to rights and privileges accruing to indigenes of the state.
According to him, anybody resident in the state is a Nigerian, and as such would be accorded all rights as citizens and indigenes of the state.
“The state has started implementing part of the recommendations of the committee, Mr. Chairman, even before it sees the report. Anybody residing in the state, irrespective of religion and tribes will automatically be entitled to anything in the state.
“There is nothing like indigenes/settlers in the state under this administration”, El-Rufai said.
He also noted that the state in collaboration with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, had been working round the clock to ensure that the state was rid of illicit drugs among the youth in the state and to also engage them in jobs to do.
The governor, who commended the NDLEA for a job well done so far, said the state had also begun moves to employ the youths in the state.
El-Rufai said his administration planned to employ 10 youths from the 255 wards in the 23 local government areas of the state beginning from this month (August).
He said, “The final key we need to turn in finding a lasting peace in the state is here.
“This administration will ensure that the indigenes/settlers’ dichotomy is broken in the state.
“For Kaduna to be great again, we must forgive.
“This committee will be the last that will look into any crisis in the state. We are going to implement the committee’s report and that of the Peace and Reconciliation of the last administration”.
The governor thanked the committee whose membership included traditional rulers from the southern parts of the state, the Christian Association of Nigeria, the Jama’atul Nasril Islam, the Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, the Army and the Police for submitting their reports in a record time of one month.