Group Calls for Investigation into Alleged Genocide against Southern Kaduna People

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Southern Kaduna Leaders Council  (SKLC), has called on the Department of State Services (DSS) and other relevant security agencies to investigate alleged genocide against the Southern Kaduna people during the administration of ex- governor Nasir El-Rufai. 

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Kaduna, a former Commissioner and Secretary of SKLC, Timothy Gandu,  said the investigation would  unravel  if there is any role played  by El-Rufai in aiding and abetting grievous and egregious crimes against humanity.

“We also demand that, for justice to be served and the souls of the unjustly departed to rest in peace, El-Rufai should be made to face the full wrath of the law if found guilty,” Gandu said.

According to him, the Southern Kaduna people will never forget the myriads of wrongdoings inflicted on them by  El-Rufai. 

The SKLC also dismissed claims by Muyiwa Adekeye, El-Rufai’s former Adviser on Media,  that the balcanisation of chiefdoms and change of nomenclature in Southern Kaduna was done on request by the chiefdoms.

The group described Adekeye’s claim as false and urged him to stop spreading  falsehood.

Adekeye had in a recent statement said the alterations of chiefdoms and  change of names of some of the traditional institutions by the El-Rufai government were done on requests from the chiefdoms. 

However, the SKLC maintained that, “El-Rufai, in his devious game of pitching one faith against another, and one ethnic group against another, abused his official position by misusing the powers of office to carry out these questionable creations.”

According to Gandu, El-Rufai arbitrarily and illegally shifted boundaries which he sought to legitimise through the establishment of a 13-member committee to review existing chieftaincy system in Kaduna state in 2017.

“We hereby reject in its entirety the false claims made by Muyiwa Adekeye, Media Adviser to former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, in which he stated that chiefdoms, including that of Adara, requested the creation of Chiefdoms and the alteration of their Chiefdoms’ nomenclature.”

The group explained that, “Contrary to this misleading account published in The Cable newspaper on June 3, 2025, it was the El-Rufai government that established a 13-member committee to review the existing chieftaincy system in Kaduna state, through a letter with reference number SSG/KDS/508 dated 20th June 2017 and signed by the Secretary to the Kaduna State Government…

“We have it on good authority that El- Rufai orchestrated the background work initiating these requests”.

Gandu said, the Southern Kaduna region, with over 56 ethnic groups across 12 LGAs, cannot reasonably be said to have requested the creation of chiefdoms or a change of nomenclature.” 

He said: “Out of 25 indigenous Chiefdoms whose names El-Rufai decided to change, 17 wrote to state that the names and titles of their chiefs should not be changed. 

“Seven others wrote to state that they did not ask for the nomenclature of their traditional institutions to be changed. 

“Yet, El-Rufai ignored the written views of the traditional councils.

“Since most of these issues are in court we refrain from preceding any further on the matter than to put it starkly that Muyiwa Adekeye who hails from Kwara state has meddled enough in matters he has no locus standi…

“We have thought that, having earned so much unmerited and unjustified reward from Kaduna state resources for his unquestioning loyalty to the despot, Muyiwa Adekeye would now be realistic towards the victims of El-Rufai’s orchestrated and planned maladministration against a harmless people.

“In retrospect, we will never forget the myriad of wrongdoings inflicted by El-rufa’i in Southern Kaduna, where he exhibited highly devious, vindictive, and manipulative tendencies and actions…

“Adekeye has done and continues to do grievous harm to the people of Southern Kaduna by his continuous falsehood on issues concerning us.”

The group noted that  the administration of Governor Uba Sani has started addressing some of the wrongdoings by El-Rufai.

It appealed to the governor to “urgently consider repealing the objectionable Kaduna State Traditional Institution Law, 2021, enacted by El-Rufai’s government, and revert traditional institutions in the state to their 2015 status quo.