El-Rufai not from Kaduna, say PDP chieftains

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hassan Ahmed Rufai, and other members of the party have alleged that All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, Nasir el-Rufai, was originally from Katsina State and should stop heating up the polity in Kaduna, where the people had helped him grow from obscurity.

Speaking in an interview, Rufai recalled that el-Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, had once told some inhabitants of Unguwan Sarki in Kaduna North Local Government Area, who had visited him in Abuja that he was not an indigene of Kaduna State.

According to him, their investigation had revealed that the guber hopeful was from Daudawa, a village in Katsina State, but grew up in Kawo, Kaduna North Local Government Area, under the guardianship of a retired federal permanent secretary.

“We know him as a person that was raised by the respected elder statesman. We in Kaduna, we are liberal and accommodating. But sometimes many people take that for granted. El-Rufai had told the Kaduna people that he was not their minister, why should he now come to seek for their votes? He should go to Katsina,” he said.

On the recent assurance by el-Rufai that he would not demolish people’s houses if elected governor, reminiscent to what he did in the Federal Capital Territory, Rufai declared that the former minister was not a friend of masses but had been promoting the elite class and those in high authority. He concluded that in an attempt to impress his class, el-Rufai had the tendencies of coming up with policies that might not augur well for the common people.

“If el-Rufai could muster the courage and demolish places of worship in the FCT when he was minister, what assurance do we have that he will not demolish people’s houses in Kaduna? I pity petty traders and artisans, those doing business by the roadside to eke a living. They are at risk; God save us,” Rufai said.