CITAD Condemns El-Rufai’s Comments Against Kaduna Senators

By Mustapha Usman.

Centre for Information Technology and Development, CITAD, has condemned the comments made by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufa’i against the three senators representing the state in the National Assembly.

DAILY NIGERIAN reported that Mr El-Rufai had rained insults on the three senators: Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central), Sulieman Hukunyi (Kaduna North), and Danjuma Leah (Kaduna South) for blocked a $350m World Bank loan request by the state government.

 However, a statement by CITAD’s Head of Hate Speech Monitoring and Countering Unit, Hamza Ibrahim, in Kano on Sunday, the Kano-based IT promoters expressed dismay and shock at the governor’s utterances against the lawmakers.

Describing the comments as hate speech, CITAD urged the governor to publicly withdraw the statement.

 “We call on Mallam El-Rufa’i to strongly caution his supporters against respecting his directive or engaging in any form of violence.

“He should also advise the entire people of Kaduna State to disregard Gov. Malam Nasir El-rufai’s call against the three senators.

“We Call on All Progressives Congress (APC) Kaduna state chapter to condemn the comments as well and encourage the three Senators not to react.

 “We also advise the Kaduna APC to also caution followers of both factions against counter utterances.
 “We urge the public to remain calm and peaceful, and not react to the statements,” the statement reads in parts.

CITAD, however, called on the Senators not to retaliate and to caution their followers not engage in counter hate speech or counter mobilization for violence.

“The social media players must understand that circulating the said audio/video clip is giving room to further unnecessary debate and hate speech, as such they should stop promoting the clip and instead advocate for peace,” the statement added.