An Open Letter to the Governor of Kaduna State Your Excellency Mallam Nasir El-Rufai -By Timothy Dokpesi Adidi

Your Excellency Sir,

Since I wrote my congratulatory letter to you on your victory in the Election Tribunal I have not really communicated again in this past few days and I hope you are indeed having a smooth administrative moments in office despite the hectic responsibilities and constitutional obligations placed on you as Governor of Kaduna State. I pray the Almighty Allah keep you safe and continously sustain you.

Your Excellency Sir, I am very much aware these are the most trying times for you because of the significant developments your government has placed on grounds for people to obviously understand that you are indeed working; and I must say that His Excellency is indeed working and making impacts for the good people of Kaduna State. Irrespective of divergent views, one has to still state the obvious as to the fact that you have really improved the status of Kaduna State in your second term as you engage critical stakeholders and foreign investors to rebuild Kaduna State in your policy agenda for the cosmopolitanization and urbanization process of your framework to ensure good governance.

In fact, your Excellency this is time to make more enemies and political detractors as you advance the cause of taking Kaduna State to the next level. Your Excellency Sir, In the pat few days there has been some information moving round on the social media and of course as one interested in your progress I hope to seek clarifications Your Excellency. I seek this clarifications not necessary as an attack on your government but a way of engaging your office so as to help clear the air and have a better understanding as to what you have in mind when certain comments are made. You are aware that most times people post information that can either destroy or make the individual and I also know that your Excellency is use to such social media attack which for me is part of what the social media has negatively impacted on the society were we have so much information and yet, unable to manage the information. Hence, Your Excellency Sir I shall follow the issues in a manner we shall understand ourselves for frutiful democratic engagement.

On the 11th September, 2019 this particular information went round on social media and as I read it as posted to me I was beginning to wonder what Your Excellency hope to achieve and the message read thus:

                   Be careful of what you tweet about Kaduna, I'm watching’ - El-Rufai
                      Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has issued a stern warning to Nigerians to be careful of what they post on Twitter about the state, Igbere TV reports. Gov. El-Rufai gave the warning on Tuesday, in Abuja, at the launching of the book “Digital Wealth”, by Japheth .J. Omojuwa, a Nigerian blogger. The governor, who said he was watching what people tweet about his government personally, revealed that there were existing laws to deal with any erring individual. “If you want to tweet anything about Kaduna be very careful because I am watching and ...we have a very very strong law to get you.

Your Excellency Sir, when this information went round social media I began to ask some fundamental questions but refused to write and communicate to you as usual because I needed to confirm the source and thereby getting the whole episode of the context in which you made the above statement. Fortunately, my patience has yielded result as I saw this information circulated just yesterday 19th September, 2019 and I have kept asking those disseminating the information to please confirm the source and up till now I have not gotten a word. Here below is the information circulated:

                       Please I just confirmed that the Kaduna state government has written to the St George's             Anglican Cathedral in Zaria that they need to vacate their current location that they have occupied for over 100 years for a government planned urban renewal programme. That the church will be demolished to make room for the expansion of the Zaria market. Please pray and send to other platforms about this evil design. El Rufai had mooted this idea in 2015 but relented when his re- election was in jeopardy. They now think they control this country and ALL it's levers of POWER but let us turn to the God who dwells on high and rules over the affairs of men for His intervention. I confirmed this from the Bishop in Charge.

After reading the above information that is been circulated and waiting for the source and yet unknown, I now realized why the first comment credited by you and if truly it is you was indeed very necessary because of the information as given above of these nature. This can trigger lots of crisis if not clarified and a detail explanation given as to the veracity of these statements. No doubt, Your Excellency, both comments needs to be interpreted or misinterpreted by the good people of Kaduna State, but I will advise that these issues be clarified as soon as possible so as not to jeopardize your good works in Kaduna State.

Your Excellency Sir, as earlier mention, and I hope to reiterate here that let these should not be a distraction to your focus. People have the right to say what they want to say; but your ability to manage these criticisms is the hallmark of your democratic stewardship. You are gaining more grounds in the public sphere and not just in Kaduna State but globally. The international communities are getting more interested in Kaduna State and it is a normal tendency that you are distracted. Please Your Excellency; make do well to clarify these issues so the public and the international community become informed; and so we get the facts correctly via a press conference.

Until then Your Excellency, I remain relatively focus on your current developments rather than these distractions. Hence, I will not take them seriously unless there is a need to do so.

Once again, I wish you a wonderful weekend and prosperous administration.

Long Live Your Excellency Mallam Nasir El-Rufai,
Long Live the Good People of Kaduna State,
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

ADIDI, Dokpesi Timothy
Timshow03@gmail.com
08138605055