Dear Governor Nasir Elrufa’i,
I have found it absolutely expedient to write to you and openly. There is no time for salutation and the reasons are obvious.
We received the news of your government’s usual reactionary action of shutting down schools after the unfortunate but completely avoidable kidnap of innocent students of Bethel Baptist High School. In the face of your ostensible failure to provide security in the state, I feel your government’s action, though a sign of surrender to the bandits, is the best.
Mr Governor, now that you have shut down schools that are exposed to kidnappings in Kaduna State, what have you done with the Highways and villages that have been taken over by bandits and kidnappers?
Mr Governor, on what exactly do you spend the unaccounted-for billions taken away as security votes yearly? Have you ever considered procuring vehicles, communication gadgets or providing other incentives to security agencies to enable them to resume aerial and highway patrols instead of the stationary checkpoints which have proven very ineffective?
Can you say that you are doing your best or that your best is good enough? Where are the drones, CCTV Cameras, and other security gadgets you budgeted billions in 2017 to buy? Did you really procure them or we should keep expecting them like the China batteries that have delayed the conduct of the Local Government Councils polls in the state?
Your Excellency, please agree with us that your strategies of securing this state are simply not working and seek help. Please, reach out to the leaders of the opposition, socio-cultural groups, and other top serving and retired politicians, generals, CPs, DSS, among others for help as Rt. Hon. Isa Ashiru Kudan once suggested to you. Doing so will not kill you or minimize you. We need more than the preservation of one man’s ego to overcome the security challenge ravaging our state.
And lest I forget, control what you and members of your family say out there in the public domain. Your recent utterances and those of your wife, for instance, are responsible for the sudden surge in attacks by bandits and kidnapping across the state. If you can secretly withdraw your children from a public school so that you do not expose those of others to bandits attacks, you should also consider drawing the curtain on making provocative and empty statements capable of exposing the rest of us to danger. Since you are incapable of securing us, making this personal sacrifice will truly help us.
Finally, Sir, we are grateful for the beautiful roads and bridges you are constructing across the state. But remember that your tenure will be defined not only by the legacy of infrastructure but by the rivers of blood and mass graves you are working hard to leave behind.
Please, see what you can do to better the security situation in this state.
~Edward John Auta
06/07/2021
