By Jeffrey Agbo
Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has denied implying that security agencies failed to brief President Muhammadu Buhari on the threat made by terrorists.
The terrorists, who kidnapped Abuja-Kaduna train passengers, made a video recently where they were flogging the victims. One of the terrorists threatened that they would go after Buhari and El-Rufai.
In a media chat in Hausa on Wednesday, El-Rufai said he was the one who informed the president of the threat.
Reacting to the fuss created by El-Rufai’s comments, the governor’s spokesman Muyiwa Adekeye said in a statement on Friday that El-Rufai did not imply that security agencies failed to do their job in briefing the president about the threat.
The statement said, “Malam Nasir El-Rufai hosted a live media chat in Hausa on Wednesday, 27 July 2022. One of the questions he fielded related to the deteriorating security situation.
“His response included a reminder of the fact that he has for at least five years advocated for robust action against the terrorists that are menacing our people, including bombardments of their locations.
“He further disclosed that he briefed President Muhammadu Buhari last Sunday about the gravity of the security situation and informed him that the terrorists had made threats to abduct the President and himself.
“As a digitally-active Governor with a significant presence in the social media, he was the first to draw the attention of Mr. President to the viral video making the rounds that day.
“It is incumbent on him to share information with the President, without prejudice to any security or media reports that the President may receive from any other sources. The President had not seen the viral video at the point in time.
“The suggestion and storylines by a section of the media that this amounted to a failing by the security agencies to brief Mr. President is not what the Governor expressly said in the Hausa language interview.
“At all times, it is important that the media exercises restraint and ensures contextual accuracy in reporting, and avoids issues that may arise from or be lost in translation.
“We must not by acts of commission or omission glorify the terrorists or demonize officials charged with the duty to contain and destroy them. Nigeria’s security challenges should neither be politicized nor deployed to mislead our people.”
