“I only averted a potential disaster” – El-Rufai defends contentious Fulani tweet
Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai has defended his contentious 2012 tweet where he warned that the Fulani will retaliate every form of attack no matter how long.
“We will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it takes,” El-Rufai tweeted at the time.
Many public observers deem the tweet inappropriate and inciting.
El-Rufai has been labelled a hypocrite for going at people who make similar comments.
The governor however says he didn’t intend to incite the public with the tweet.
He said he only stated the obvious as a matter of fact.
When confronted about the tweet at the ongoing Social Media Week in Lagos, the Kaduna Governor said:
“People are making reference to what I tweeted in 2012. What did I tweet? I tweeted that any person, soldier or not, that kills a Fulani, takes a debt that will be repayable in 100 years. It is a statement of fact. It is not a threat.
“It is not an incitement to violence and there is a context to it. In 2012, the General Officer commanding of 5 divison of the Nigerian Army in Jos, gave an instruction that it behooves on the governor of Plateau state to wipe out two Fulani settlements just outside Jos on the suspicion that they have weapons.
“This was reported by the governor of Plateau state and the commander gave the order and I heard about it. I called and said please don’t do that. Go and surround the place and search for weapons. But that was not the objective.
“The Objective was to remove them from the settlement because they are settlers and people that think that that land is their ancestral land, want to take the land. It is not because they had weapons.
“Now I know the nature of the normadic Fulanis. If you kill any of them unlawfully, they organise to take revenge no matter how long it takes.
“Now for me, the danger is that if the Nigerian Army goes and wipes out a Fulani settlement, any person wearing a Nigerian Army uniform in 14 West African countries is at risk.
“Word would go round that the Nigerian Army has created genocide against the Fulanis and anywhere you see a person wearing a Nigerian Army Uniform, is a target for retaliation and I warned the commander that this will happen.
“He did not listen and that is why I put it on the record in a tweet. Ultimately because of that tweet, the commander retracted his plan and they went to search the settlement and found no weapons.
“To me, what I did averted a potential disaster. If you don’t believe what I tweeted, go and do what the army wanted to do and see the consequences.”
El-Rufai also said at the ongoing Social Media Week that Chocolate City boss, Audu Maikori will be prosecuted for “making inciting comments”.
