The Kaduna state Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has said that the number of persons killed in Kajuru Local Government Area of the state last Friday was 130 and not the 66 as he earlier said.
Recall that el-Rufai, had, on the eve of the botched elections of Saturday, February 16, announced that 66 persons had been killed in different communities in Kajuru by unknown gunmen.
He however, received a lot of criticism from individuals and groups, many of whom outrightly called him a liar insisting that no such incident took place in the area.
Addressing State House correspondents on Tuesday, the governor disclosed that based on the security briefings he had received, the actual number of those killed during the attack was 130 and not 66, describing those doubting the killings as “grossly irresponsible.”
READ ALSO: Election: Buhari, Oshiomhole Calling for Extra-Judicial Killings —Dogara
Coming out from a security meeting he convened, attended by the governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, as well as the security chiefs, El-Rufai said he gets security briefings daily to know the situation in and around Kaduna, stressing that, “I work only on that basis.”
He further noted, “The latest report shows that over 130 were killed, not even 66,” adding that; “The government of a state cannot be detained by parochial, ethno-religious, partisan or electoral calculations from doing its duty to provide security, confirm incidents of security breaches, take steps to reassure affected communities and ensure that perpetrators are arrested and brought to justice.”
