Defence Minister Musa: El-Rufai As Governor Made Southern Kaduna A Fulani Killing Field (VIDEO)
We know how things were when Elrufai was there, it was toxic, Elrufai did a lot of terrible things in Kaduna state, he divided the state in two. Governor Uba Sani has been able to dissolve all that. We cannot never be happy with somebody (Elrufai) who has deliberately plans for… pic.twitter.com/JcrgwuMmCL
— Imran Muhammad (@Imranmuhdz) September 3, 2026
Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Retired General Christopher Musa, has accused former Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai of dividing the state along ethno-religious lines and deliberately planning killings by Fulani militia against Southern Kaduna in two tenures that ran from 2015 to 2023.
Musa, who hails from Southern Kaduna, made the allegations on Channels Television’s Politics Today with Seun Okinbaloye, on Thursday, September 3, and said the period under El-Rufai was toxic, dividing the state so residents from the south couldn’t live safely in the north and vice versa.
El-Rufai is Fulani Muslim and most of the killings of that era were traced to Fulani herdsmen and militia, none of whom were on record as having been brought to book.
“We know how it was when El-Rufai was there; it was toxic,” Musa said. “El-Rufai did a lot of terrible things in Kaduna State. He divided the country, the state, into two.”
He praised current Governor Uba Sani for healing those rifts and predicted a strong win for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in upcoming elections.
Kaduna suffered severe insecurity during El-Rufai’s 2015-2023 tenure, with some data recording 1,660 security incidents and 4,876 deaths.
Kaduna’s crises involved banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder conflicts, reprisals, land disputes and longstanding ethnic and religious tensions, especially in Southern Kaduna.
El-Rufai also said his government contacted and compensated some herders linked to grievances from the 2011 violence.
He called it a peace intervention; but critics argued that paying suspected aggressors encouraged impunity.
El-Rufai repeatedly denied hostility towards Southern Kaduna, rather blaming the regular killings on criminals, revenge attacks and politicians giving violence ethnic or religious meaning.
Musa contrasted that era with that of the current Governor Uba Sani.
“Governor Sani within one year has been able to resolve all that. Now everybody is free, everybody has a say. It’s not 100 percent yet; but you can see that he’s making deliberate effort in uniting the state,” the Minister submitted.
Musa said people in Southern Kaduna remained deeply hurt over the killings under El-Rufai, who, he alleged, openly bragged about his actions.
“We can never be happy with somebody who has deliberately planned for the killing of our people,” Musa said. “He told us he paid bandits. He told us he did this, he did that. He didn’t hide it. He was that arrogant to come out and tell people that this was what he did.”
According to the Minister, residents of the area still felt traumatised by the violence, although the security situation had improved under the current administration.
He claimed El-Rufai also denied some people opportunities, adding that his policies hurt people from the Southern part of the state.
Musa also spoke on the coming elections in 2027, expressing confidence that APC would sweep the stakes.
Musa urged Nigerians to reject politicians who used religion, tribe, or other differences to divide the country.
“Anybody who is using religion or tribe or whatever to divide Nigeria is an enemy of the state,” he said.
