Southern Kaduna: If God wanted He would have made us one ethnic group – El-Rufai

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state has enjoined the people of Southern Kaduna to live in peace saying if God had wanted he would have made us one ethnic group.

He made this known on Wednesday, while witnessing the launching of ‘Operation Harbin Kunama II aimed at flushing out bandits who are hiding in the forests of Southern Kaduna.

His words, “If God wanted us to be one ethnic group, he would have made us one. Peace is a choice. People must choose to live in peace for peace to exist.”

According to him, “Violence can only end when people decide that violence does not work. Somalia has been at war for decades and the war is not yet over. People must understand that, it is why the chief of Army Staff and his officers are ready to flush out the bandits We must be ready to tolerate one another.”

“Our job as a state government is to provide the necessary support to the security agencies to preserve peace and to prosecute all those involved in any crime. My appeal as always is that let us recognize our common humanity.”

The governor charged the people of the area to report any dispute or criminality incident to law enforcement agencies because if everyone chooses to take laws into their hands there can be no peace.

Earlier, the Chief of Army staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai maintained that the whole operation is about keeping our society safe.

“We are much aware of what is happening in Southern Kaduna, the various communal clashes, the farmers/herders clash, we are training our officers to be more professional to understand the basis of our field operations.”

“The operation will last for one month. The troops will go into the nooks and crannies of this area, the hills and valleys to flush out all the criminals, bandits and cattle rustlers including kidnappers.”

“You can see from this outing, traditional rulers have come out in full to support us. Our civil military relations have been extremely well. We held town hall meetings where the head of civil military affairs as well as the GOC were there. It was an eye opener. Some of the challenges that are facing by the individual community were properly brought out.”