The governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rifai, disclosed on December 13, 2019 that he has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, over alleged inciting comments made by “a pastor in Abuja” which suggested that he had a hand in the kidnap and murder of traditional ruler in the state.
Speaking with Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, who paid him a courtesy visit in Kaduna, Gov. El-Rufai alleged that the message by the pastor was what led to a recent violence in the Kasuwan Mageni area of Kaduna where 22 persons were killed.
The governor said: “There was a clip going round, a pastor in Abuja that said I was the one that arranged the abduction and murder of the Agom of Kachia. I have filed a complaint to the IG. We intend to bring him to Kaduna to try him.
“The clip was circulated in Kaduna and he is in Abuja, we will get him. We know the agents of this kind of careless statements and what is most unfortunate is that the guiltiest people are the people that we assume should be responsible, pastors, imams and very important people in the society.”
The governor said a story was circulated in which it was claimed he invited the chief to a meeting and told him that his chiefdom will become an emirate and that he disagreed with the governor and that while returning from the meeting, he was kidnapped adding that it implied he arranged the kidnap. The governor attributed the violence in the state to this rumour which he said is totally false.
He said as governor: “I have never invited any chief except when they write to see me. I can depose him. Why will I threaten him? I can abolish his chiefdom or emirate under the law.”
Though he did not mention the pastor’s name, it is suspected that Gov. El-Rufai was referring to the presiding pastor of Dunamis Church, Paul Enenche.
A video of one of Pastor Enenche’s preaching that has gone viral on the social media, shows the pastor saying that the deceased traditional ruler was kidnapped on his way back from a meeting called by the governor.
