The vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Datti Baba-Ahmed, has faulted former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, over his recent allegation that the government is paying bandits, claiming that the former minister cannot absolve himself from the blame.
Baba-Ahmed, who spoke during a television programme monitored by THISDAY, accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of using insecurity as a political tool.
“El-Rufai cannot run away because he is part of it. My grudge with Nasir’s statement is that he was part and parcel of the APC from 2013. Like he told you, he was one of the architects of it all. All of a sudden, he has come to absolve himself. No. Nasir is part and parcel of all that has been going on. We suffered, we are victims of Nasir’s misrule in Zaria,” he alleged.
Baba-Ahmed alleged that insecurity had been “politicised and orchestrated” by the ruling APC.
“I am in so much pain, believe me. Nigeria should be a great country, yet we have people destroying us by the hour. Insecurity has been part of APC’s game, and Nasir is saying it.
“I think he is right, the government has been paying them. Insecurity has been the APC’s way of staying in power. That is my candid, firm opinion, strengthened by the kind of unfortunate comments like that of Nasir,” he said.
He also criticised the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for dismissing El-Rufai’s remarks.
“The reaction of ONSA is not disputing what Nasir has said. Nasir should be writing some comments and statements by now. If the Office of the National Security Adviser will take this statement with levity, then Nuhu Ribadu was never a policeman. Nasir should be writing to the police, to the court. If the position of the government is to be paying bandits, then we don’t have a nation,” Baba-Ahmed added.
El-Rufai had sparked controversy when he alleged recently that both the federal government and Kaduna State Government were worsening insecurity by empowering bandits
