How to apply more pressure to Governor El-Rufai

Thank you for sending a message to Governor Nasir El-Rufai. And thank you for maintaining the pressure!

How to send your email

Feel free to copy, paste and adapt the points made, and to include your own introduction and ending.

You may have sent your first email some time ago. If you can’t find a reply from Governor El-Rufai’s office, try searching in your email inbox for ‘Kaduna’. Alternatively, just start afresh with a new email to: info@kdsg.gov.ng

The main points to cover (please always be polite):

• Thank Governor El-Rufai for his reply.

Reopening the Kafanchan campus of the Kaduna State University

• We welcome your recent decision to reopen all tertiary institutions in southern Kaduna, so that hundreds of young people from religious and ethnic minorities no longer have their studies disrupted at a critical juncture.
  

A lack of action

• The reply states that “the Kaduna State Government led by Nasir El-Rufai is doing everything it can to restore peace to the region.” If this is indeed the case, why are there no perpetrators of violence in custody yet?

• Worse still, the lack of arrests seems to have given the perpetrators the impression that they have official backing.  In at least two instances, militants have informed victims that they intend to occupy the land until the federal government or Governor El-Rufai ask them to leave.

• By contrast, those who speak up about the violence and killings are arrested and tried for hate speech or incitement.  Most recently, the journalist Luka Binniyat, who had apologised publicly for a faulty article which he had tried to withdraw prior to publication, has spent weeks remanded in custody due to excessive and impossible bail terms which are likely to mean he will be imprisoned for the duration of his trial.
  
• Yet a group that held a press conference in Kaduna on 6 June calling for coordinated action to expel members of the Igbo tribe from northern Nigeria by 31 October and seize their assets remain free, despite the existence of an arrest warrant issued by the Governor. Is Governor El Rufai aware that three United Nations human rights experts issued a statement on 25 August describing this as hate speech, expressing grave concern at the “proliferation of hate messages and incitement to violence against the Igbo and their property, especially considering the previous history of such violence”, and calling for the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators? Given the fact that their actions are far more serious than those of Mr Binniyat, are there any plans to remand these people in custody pending trial?
  

Caring for those fleeing

• At least 20,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, yet there is no official camp for the displaced. Most IDPs are women and children, and are extremely vulnerable.  Will the government be offering assistance to these people, who have lost everything, including loved ones and bread earners in several cases?

• Thank Governor El-Rufai for taking the time to consider these arguments, we look forward to a reply of not just words but also action.