Kaduna State police commissioner disputes casualty figures quoted by Governor El-Rufai

KADUNA State police commissioner Ahmad Abdulrahman has disputed figures peddled by Governor Nasir El-Rufai when he claimed that 130 Fulanis were killed in communal clashes in Kajuru Local Government Area recently.

Last week, Governor El-Rufai claimed that following a bitter clash between the Adara and Fulani communities in the south of the state, about 130 Fulanis were murdered and buried in shallow graves. His claims led to an outrage, with civil society groups accusing the governor of manufacturing the news for political purposes.

Many groups challenged Governor El-Rufai to provide evidence of the deaths and so he went to Kajuru Local Government Area along with Mr Abdulrahman, along with the local army commander, giving the media a tour of the affected villages. However, Mr Abdulrahman, said he advised Governor Nasir el-Rufai against quoting any particular figure as the number of casualties recorded in the ethnic crisis, saying his men were still investigating the incident.

Mr Abdulrahman said: “I told the governor that figures in a crisis of this magnitude should be left unquoted until all investigations have been concluded in all the areas where information is coming from, are covered. You cannot come up with a figure, otherwise you will quote a particular figure now and quote another later.

"This is what is happening now. As far as the police are concerned, we are still investigating and the investigation is ongoing.”

He explained that the police could only arrest the Adara leaders in connection with the crisis because the people claimed that they were attacked by unknown gunmen. It is believed that following a Fulani attack, the Adara went out to seek vengeance.

“We are working on three prominent theories. First is that unknown gunmen believed to be Fulani, attacked the Adara people and escaped in the night on 11 February. The district police officer in charge of the area immediately mobilised his men to the area and combed the bushes in search of the perpetrators in the middle of the night.

“It was there that they started seeing the carnage as unfortunately, the Adara natives went to the Fulani communities and carried out a reprisal. However, we have arrested one of the suspected Fulani that attacked the Adara people,” Mr Abdulrahman added.