A former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufa’i has reacted to attack on leaders of Africa Democratic Congress, ADC by political thugs at a meeting he conveyed on Saturday in the State, warning that nobody has monopoly of violence.
Recall that some persons got injured while several others escaped death when government-hired thugs armed with dangerous weapons stormed the venue of the inauguration meeting from Social Democratic Party, SDP and African Democratic Congress.
Speaking shortly after the meeting that eventually held, El-Rufa’i who was joined by Jafaru Sani, North West National Zonal Vice chairman of ADC, alleged that the government was behind the attack on them.
The former Governor also accused law enforcement agents who were present at the venue, but chose to look on during the attack, while expressing dissatisfaction over the resurgence of thuggery into the political system.
He said, “it’s most unfortunate. I am disappointed and disgusted by this. But if the authorities don’t take a decisive action to end this re-introduction of thuggery into Kaduna politics, well God help us, because nobody has a monopoly of violence”.
On his part, Jafaru Sani, North West National Zonal Vice chairman of ADC, said, “when a lawbreaker breaks the law in presence of law enforcement agents and the person just stood aloof, I do not know what to call that.
One of the victims of assault, Ibrahim Modibbo, wondered why armed security agents at the venue watched armed thugs use cutlass to attack Nigerians carrying out constitutional, but chose to remain silent.
He said, “if someone is coming with a cutlass and breaking windows, what are you suppose to do as a police officer? Does police have cutlass? But they have rifles. And they are suppose to shoot. They (police) are to protect lives and property”, according to the victim.
But, the spokesman of the Nigeria Police Command in Kaduna State, DSP Mansir Hassan, stated that the failure of the organisers of the political assembly created a fertile ground for thugs to unleash violence on Nigerians.
DSP who disclosed this in a statement issued on Saturday, however assured that the police command further launched an inquiry from the ADC party secretariat to keep the records straight”.
“The Command wishes to state categorically that the investigation is ongoing, and anyone found culpable, irrespective of his personality and no matter how highly placed, if he acted contrary to the law, will face the full weight of the law”, he said.
