Governor Nasir El-Rufai has said that regardless of who
he chooses as his deputy, the Christians in Southern Kaduna will still
not vote him as governor in the coming polls.
El-Rufai stated this on Channel’s Television’s Sunrise Daily while reacting to questions about his choice of a Muslim as his running mate for the next gubernatorial election in Kaduna.
The
governor said, “What if I tell you that no matter who I choose as my
running mate, even if I choose the Pope, 67 per cent of the Christians
in Southern Kaduna have made up their minds that they will never vote
for me”.
According to El-Rufai, his choice of Hadiza Balarabe as a running mate is politically motivated.
He said, “I am a politician, so everything I do is politically motivated”.
El-Rufai
said he has chosen anyone based on ethnic or religious bias, urging
Nigerians to go beyond these prejudices in the best interest of the
nation.
The
governor went on to say that for him, the issue is that Kaduna state is
divided and needs to be united and the only way to this is to take
“religion and ethnicity off the table”.
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El-Rufai also reacted to the case of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen at the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
Speaking
on polity in Kaduna and Nigeria as a whole, El-Rufai said it is time
Nigerian leaders and people are reflective in decisions, rather than
operate on ethnic or religious biases.
In the case of Onnoghen, the Kaduna state governor said the position taken by governors of the South-south is disheartening.
He
said, “One of the most painful things I have experienced in the last
two weeks, was the statement by the governors of the South-south,
justifying that non-declaration of assets is nothing, is a non-issue
because the Chief Justice of Nigeria is from the South-South”.
The governor argued that “wrong is wrong and right should be right”,
and as such, leaders should advise that we can’t do it all the time,
sometimes it’s not black and white, it’s a bit of grey, but we must
stand for something that is right”.
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