An Open Letter to The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai -By Dokpesi Timothy Adidi

Your Excellency Sir,

Let me begin this letter to you and condole you on the death of your former Deputy Governor whom you both worked very closely with, despite the different schools of thought that characterized your relationship with him. Whether your relationship with your former Deputy was smooth while he was in the office with you is not the issue; disagreements are a necessary ingredient to growth. What is more important is whether such disagreement ended in a manner befitting of matured men.

May the Angels of God receive his soul and present it to God the Highest; and may his soul rest in perfect peace.

Let me at this juncture thank you for declaring a public holiday as a sign of respect and kind gestures to prove your openness and sense of respect for the repose of his soul. You declared 12th July 2021 as a day to mourn him in the State, and you indeed recognize his stewardship to the people of Kaduna State from the days of his career as a Public/Civil Servant to his elevation as Deputy Governor of Kaduna State. This again clears the air as the suspicion and questions raised in the first paragraph of this letter. I hope those in doubt will see reasons why this explains the wonderful relationship you had with your former Deputy; that is if this is an issue.

Your Excellency, let me quickly hit the issue of concern in this letter. I feel as a concerned Nigerian Citizen and at the same time a resident and indigene of Kaduna State as guaranteed by the Constitution (I hope the Constitution still guarantees me such right in Nigeria) to evaluate your stewardship and if possible help you proffer a solution to your government.

My Distinguished Governor, there is no point giving a narrative of the unprecedented killings, kidnapping, and banditry in Kaduna State. This has gotten to the point that your Commissioner for Internal Security (Samuel Aruwan) has lost every respect and confidence from the people as seen recently when he was chased by angry parents.

I guess by now he must have made use of his rhetoric and exhausted it to the point where it has gotten to its elasticity. What this means is that nothing else can make people believe in the excuses, narratives, and stories given by the government as a State Governor.

Your Excellency Sir, the People of Kaduna State are only tolerating you for the value and respect for peace in Kaduna State.. Some weeks ago (I don’t have the luxury to check dates), but I remember vividly on a Saturday morning, Kakau was completely blocked to the extent that the appeal of soldiers could not allow the residents to remove the road blocks mounted to stop vehicles going to Abuja, and Abuja coming to Kaduna. This again says a lot about your administration.

The high point of this regular and day-to-day kidnapping, killings, abduction of school children, and now the Emir of Kajuru has revealed that what the State needs right now is not about construction or roads and bridges. It is only those who are alive that can make use of infrastructure as roads and bridges.

More so, Your Excellency Sir, I am one of those who admire the infrastructural developments so far; but at this time of our current realities, the Nigerian Constitution considers security as paramount to infrastructural development. As the Chief Security Officer of the State, Your Excellency, I think you should hold the fourth let’s focus on that which bedevils our State.

Our schools are almost locked down and closed. Many Secondary Schools and even the first private University in Kaduna State have relocated. Our children and parents have become helpless, and most of which live in morbid fear and exaggerated anxiety.

Should the people of Kaduna State leave Kaduna State; which state will be there for you to govern? Let me not overflog the issues; but note that if your security architecture has failed your cosmopolitanization and urbanization policy has failed.

I therefore advice you to transmit to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that Kaduna State be declared a State of Emergency with immediate effect. This transmission is not one of weakness but strength.

Your Excellency, if you will recall the former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan did not hesitate to declare a State of Emergency in Plateau State and other parts of the North. I strongly believe if you do it does not in any way undermine your competence but reflects your helpless situation in dire need of assistance. I am not unaware of the fact that this might not go down well with you but note that great people do unusual things for the common good.

Let me conclude this letter to you by advising you do the needful before the situation turns against you.

I wish you the very best.

Yours Faithfully,

ADIDI, Dokpesi Timothy
Kaduna Resident