El-Rufai reacts to ‘plan’ to replace his deputy

Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has refuted speculations that he was planning to replace his deputy, Mr Barnabas Bala-Yusuf, with a former Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Lawal Yakawada.


His spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, said the report was aimed at causing division in the state along ethnic and religious lines.

“A piece of despicable fiction, titled ‘Emergency meeting of the strategic committee on political developments in Kaduna State,’ is circulating on social media.

“It purports to be the minutes of a meeting chaired by Governor Nasir el-Rufai where some key officials of the Kaduna State Government were present.

“The whole drift of the fabricated minutes is to stoke division along the lines of region and religion. This fake news is clearly the handiwork of desperados unhappy at the successes achieved in stabilising southern Kaduna and restoring the normalcy that ordinary citizens need to build their lives,” he said.

The spokesman appealed to the citizens of the state to disregard the “fake news,” noting that the sinister motive and the agenda behind it was to create religious and ethnic tension in Kaduna State.

“We will not allow these forces of darkness to achieve their goal of setting the state on fire and dividing people.
“Governor el-Rufai will never be distracted from implementing his development agenda across the length and breadth of Kaduna State.

“We hereby appeal to citizens of the state to disregard the purported minutes as the divisive hoax of people frightened that the old order of division and spoils that sustained them is being crushed,”‎ he further stated.