By Our Reporter
The General Overseer of Living Waters Unlimited and Coordinator of Macedonia Initiative, Rev Ladi Thompson has traced the carnage in Kaduna to the caustic tongue of the governor of the state, Mallam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai.
In a Facebook reaction today October 24, Thompson who has been playing strategic role in bringing peace to some states in the north noted that El-Rufai did not manage the crisis in Kaduna well adding that he ought to have deployed his ingenuity to bring peace to the state rather than turmoil.
He wrote, ” El Rufai I have said repeatedly is a complete disappointment! We thought the genius of his brilliance would be engaged in building bridges to make Kaduna great again! Instead of unity he amplified acrimonious animosities for political gain with his vicious tongue”
Thompson sounding sarcastic wrote further, “We wish the good Samaritan that helped him should have left him to graduate as a butcher, kunu seller or whatever.”
He then lamented the orgy of violence that has turned Kaduna to a stream of blood. He concludes, “O precious Kaduna … see how your streets have been filled with blood.”
The crisis in Kaduna erupted on October 18 when 55 people were reported killed  in Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru Local Government Area of the state.
According to reports, “a young man, who was caught stealing in the market, was being beaten when some youths belonging to the same religious group with the suspected thief, rose in his defense and started attacking those who were beating him.
The whole thing later turned to a religious fight between Muslims and Christians. They started using dangerous weapons to attack each other and setting houses ablaze. A number of people were also killed. Security personnel have since been deployed leading to a dusk to dawn curfew which is presently being relaxed.
Rev Thompson however felt the governor could have managed the crisis better. In a phone interview with our reporter, Rev Thompson who was one of those who canvassed for El-Rufai’s election in the 2015 elections stressed that he was disappointed in the way the governor is handling the state.
He said the governor’s action has so far been divisive noting that he has refused to deploy his intellectual resources to the advantage of the state. “I must say that El-Rufai is one of the most brilliant northerner who has all that it takes to turn Kaduna to a Dubai. He has a first class brain. There is not doubt about that but he lacks character and he does not know how to manage human beings. He has allowed pettiness to get in his way. It is so sad.”
Thompson said he was one of those who persuaded the Southern Kaduna people to vote for him. “I know him very well and I know he has the capacity to make Kaduna a transformed state. But it is obvious that he only went to school, he has not allowed what he learnt in school to come to bear on Kaduna. I believe he had the ability to sue for peace in the state but he has not done that.”
