Kaduna Killings: Conflict Entrepreneurs Attacking Defence Minister Musa For Exposing El-Rufai — Babachir Lawal

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Engineer Babachir David Lawal, has said conflict entrepreneurs are behind the attacks on the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (rtd) over his disclosure on the killings in Kaduna State.

According to The Guardian, Lawal stated this on Saturday in a Facebook post while reacting to the backlash against Gen. Musa’s comment that the killings in Southern Kaduna were caused by officials of the state government.

Gen. Musa, while appearing on a Channels Television programme, had alleged that former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, promoted the killings in Southern Kaduna, stressing that delegates to peace meetings with authorities became targets of attacks.

Lawal said it has become obvious that conflict entrepreneurs are offended by the Minister’s truth-telling.

He warned that any attempt by El-Rufai’s compatriots to lynch Gen. Musa, whom he described as “a brilliant patriot and highly regarded military officer who served out his tenure with distinction,” will be stoutly resisted.

“We advise that these so-called Nasiru defenders to focus their attention on their Traditional Rulers, Senior Clergy, Federal Ministers and Senators from among their own who are currently mired in controversies and allegations of being collaborators of bandits and kidnappers,” Lawal stated.

“They should leave Gen Musa out of the predicaments of their own making,” he added.

The former SGF said the attacks against Musa were mostly observed on the Arewa Consultative Forum platform and similar groups populated by Northerners of the “Arewa” persuasion, but noted that their views do not alter the experiences of Southern Kaduna people under El-Rufai.

“To them, and by extension us (all Northern ethnic Nationalities and Christians), Nasiru El-rufai was what Adolf Hitler was to the Jews; no more no less,” Lawal said, adding that the situation is now being addressed by the current governor, Senator Uba Sani.

He urged those attacking Musa to focus on the millions of out-of-school children roaming the streets who are easy pool for recruitment into insurgency and banditry groups.