Some short video clips have been widely circulating on social media, showing Nasir el-Rufai, the former Governor of Kaduna State, addressing religious leaders in the state.
Speaking in Hausa, the former governor told the gathering Muslim-Muslim ticket had come to stay in the state and people would soon accept that Muslims could rule the state with no injustice to other religions.
However, his language of communication has rendered many non-Hausa speakers unable to grasp what message he was passing to his audience. Sitting by his left was Uba Sani, the new governor of the state.
Part One
All the APC governors in the north sat down and discussed. We said the presidential position had to go back to the south because we didn’t want a northerner to become the next president. We promised, and the promise was said verbally. God is aware of every promise, whether spoken or written.When we saw that some people were plotting to make the north retain power, we disagreed and fought them. We, the Muslims of the north, have our own tradition and we don’t betray it. Even if we make a promise in the dark, we would come out openly to say we have made a promise.Then, the thought of who is strong and competent to have support came first. The second one was that we wanted to end politics of tribalism and religion in Nigeria.
We then decided to nominate Asiwaju. Even at the time we nominated Asiwaju, I was not on good terms with him.Professor Akintola and some elders from Lagos came to meet us. They were pleased when we told them that we had agreed agreed that power had to return to the south.The Yoruba of the southwest have some issues, especially the Muslims. They argued that if a Muslim was vying for a position, they were not going to win.
Parts Two and Three:
Every time I ask them (non-Muslims), even when we went on campaigns, they said this and that. I said it was true; we are looking for those who will work. We don’t consider religion.Of course, we normally consider it. But I would not say that publicly. I would ask them, who has been cheated by you? Stand up and tell us if this government has cheated you. No answer.My team and I have done that in the last four years. Senator Uba Sani and Doctor still won their elections despite the religious card they played. You (the mallams) were the ones who helped us win, not the politicians. The politicians cheated us, I swear. And Uba Sani knows that.We know those who collected money on the election days. They switched off their phones, stayed at home and didn’t come out. The polling agents we paid to come and protect the votes did not come out.We know that you supported us. God will reward you. When he is (Sani) done with his first four years, he would still come back to seek a re-election to continue.We have shown the people that Muslims don’t like injustice, but they do not like disrespect. That was the only thing we wanted to show. We have started and have not ended it, unless we rule for 20 years or more.After Uba completes his eight years, it would be 16 years we would have been ruling the state. Right? Another person would take over to make it 24 years and everyone would say we have known our position and we know these Muslim would not cheat on us and we would have peace.I swear, with what we have done since we started looking for this position, and with the help of God and your support, we are on the right way.
He used the gathering to defend the single-faith leadership in the state and the presidential election. He also appreciated the Islamic religious leaders for supporting his party and urged them to continue persuading their people to support the government.
