The Co-founder of Chocolate City Group, Paul Okeugo, has issued an
official statement on Audu Maikori’s re-arrest and possible prosecution
on Monday.
The statement chronicles how Maikori’s travails began; how he made
efforts to correct any misunderstanding arising from the alleged
‘inciting’ commentaries; how the case has transformed from prosecution
to persecution of opposition figures in Kaduna state; and a call for
peace and prayers for Southern Kaduna people.
Read the full text below:
AUDU MAIKORI HAS BEEN ARRESTED AGAIN!
True to statements made by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir
El-Rufai last week at the Social Media Week Lagos in which he vowed to
“prosecute”( or persecute) Mr Audu Maikori for statements in respect of
the Southern Kaduna crises. Mr Maikori despite being ill has been
ferried off to Kaduna state by law enforcement officers at the behest of
Governor El Rufai, who is asserting that one of the pictures posted by
Mr Maikori caused the death of Fulani in Kaduna State.It is unfortunate that the governor has made this issue more about Audu Maikori
that we have forgotten what the real issues are about. The real
issues are that hundreds of people from Southern Kaduna have been killed
in the past year and there has been no clear indication that the
arrests or prosecution of the actual perpetrators of these Mass Murders
is imminent. There seems to be a keener focus on locking up or silencing
people who are speaking up against the lacklustre response of the
Kaduna state government.Governor El Rufai claims that Audu’s posts “may” have incited
violence in Southern Kaduna. Well let’s examine the tweet again. The
link to the above story was posted on twitter
The tweet stated the following words “Not a Very Merry Xmas for the
People of Southern Kaduna” the tweet does not mention any inciting
words; neither does it state “Fulani” or any other thing. The tweet has a link, which leads to the actual story:In summary the article itself was not inciting, it laid out the
history of the crisis dating back 20 years ago, indeed it acknowledged
the efforts of theGovernor/Government but called for them to do more, and even outlines
ideas and steps to help curb the situation and ended with this line
“This is a plea for action and a prayer for peace for Southern Kaduna,
Kaduna and all of Nigeria”. How can this article be read or interpreted
as irresponsible, inciting or reckless?The very next day, the 24th of December 2016 on Christmas eve it was
reported that Goska Village was attacked by the murderous herdsmen, with
the killing of scores of people. The pictures are all over the Internet
and the reports were made by several news sites (see link) One wonders if the Governor will also arrest and charge Sahara Reporters for posting this story.All this happened during a 24-hour curfew. Was it this article that
incited suspected Fulani herdsmen in a remote part of Southern Kaduna
with no Internet access to slaughter the people in that village?The gaffe here was that the picture on the tweet was later discovered
to be that of another genocide. Was that intentional?? Of course not.
Many pictures come up when you do a Google search of the Southern Kaduna
killings on the web, and really how can one just on the surface of it
tell a Rwandan village from a village in Kaduna? Does this make the
story any less true? Did the Fulanis not attack already before pictures
were posted? Mr Maikori even posted an apology on both Facebook and
Twitter for the picture, while still maintaining focus on the loss of
life caused by the incident. Did this picture really start all this?
Have there been any reprisals from Southern Kaduna indigenes on Fulanis?
(None has been yet reported)The second matter has to do with false story told by Mr Maikori’s
driver: The driver has confessed to the IGP monitoring unit as well as
the Marwa, Lekki Police Post confirming that he concocted the story in a
bid to defraud Audu of some money. The details of the story are already
widely publicized and there is no need to rehash it. What is worthy of
note is that Audu personally investigated the matter after the School’s
statement and took active steps to apprehend the driver and take him to
the Police. He thereafter issued a copious apology to not just the
College of Education, but the Fulani Community, the Southern Kaduna
community and both the State Governor and government. In spite of all
these Gov. El Rufai still arranged for him to be arrested, detained and
investigated by the Police under the charge of “Criminal conspiracy and
Incitement”The narrative being sold by the governor is that Audu has been
reckless and Irresponsible and therefore responsible for attacks? Does
this make sense? Let’s examine this allegation: In the matter of the
driver’s claim how could anyone actually verify the story? What reason
would anyone have to doubt a story if a personal staff who has worked
with them for months says that he lost his brother? Why would anyone
think he lied, when on several occasions even more numbers of people
have been killed in the same area?The main reason for Audu’s advocacy and that of others like him is
the helpless situation Southern Kaduna people have found themselves in.
They are being decimated every day and when they speak up against it,
they are called inciters or criminals. They are arrested, detained,
threatened, taken to court and all sorts of charges are trumped up
against them. Has this advocacy worked? Yes and this is evidenced by the
serious attention the matter has seemed to garner, so much so that we
have seen the recent establishment of battalions, arrests of some
suspected killers and even the level of support the Kaduna State
government has gotten both locally and internationally. If these
advocates hadn’t spoken up only God knows how many people would have
lost their lives by now.PROSECUTION OR PERSECUTION
Last week the Governor took time out to attend the SMW Lagos where he made two scary statements
1. “We are going to prosecute him. He was arrested. His statement has
been taken. He is on bail. He is going to be prosecuted. His fate will
be decided by a judge”. He thereafter also added2. “We (the state) are TRYING (please note the emphasis on trying) to
link the dates of his (Audu Maikori) tweets/postings to attacks that
MAY have happened the next day to Fulanis and if we are able to
establish that causation, we will prosecute him.”So two points jump out: –
Considering the fact that the “Fake picture” was made on the 23rd of
December 2016 and his statement was made two months later, it would seem
to me that any “LINK” or connection between the erroneous picture and
any attacks should have been well established and/or reported by now.
Second, if between the 2nd of March 2017 when the Governor made his
statement and this week, evidence suddenly appears linking these
“deaths” to the time of the statement, then it is safe to say that such
evidence is fabricated or at least is tailored to meet an expected
charge.The second issue for consideration is how personally involved the
Governor seems to be in this matter. He stated to several newspapers and
media platforms that he would ensure Audu was prosecuted. In the
matters relating to prosecution, the accused must first be investigated.
It is only when a prima facie case has been established will he then be
prosecuted. Anyone who watched the shocking video of the Governor can
see clearly that he has already decided to prosecute Audu regardless of
what happens because he needs a scapegoat. What was the crime? Speaking
out against the slaughtering of people in Southern Kaduna.This sort of statement, if there is ever need for it, should be made by
the Attorney-General of Kaduna State, Director of Public Prosecutions of
the State and not the Governor who is supposed to a neutral arbiter in
such matters.Clearly, the Governor has demonstrated which side he stands on. So
contrary to his verbal statements this case for him is very personal. We
should not be surprised if sometime soon, the Police suddenly find
“new” evidence that indicts Audu. And needless to say, any trial held in
this matter will be heavily tipped in favour of Governor El-Rufai. He
has more than enough government resources and connections to make sure
he wins at all costs.Meanwhile, let us get back to the real issues. Are people being
killed in Southern Kaduna still? Yes, in fact, during the weekend during
which Mr Maikori was first detained, between The 19th of February and
the 21st of February, another 21 people were reportedly killed near
Kafanchan and Kaura according toThisdayLive.com
Over 3,000 people have been displaced and compensation still has not
been paid to many of these homeless people who have suffered- but
surprisingly compensation was niftily paid to the Fulani community who
are by the Governor’s self-admission, not even Nigerians!The Governor has proudly announced this is at several fora. He says
the justification of these payments is based on recommendations of the
Agwai Report – unfortunately General Agwai himself has frowned at that
position. He said that any recommendations for the payment of
compensation would be to both aggrieved sides not just one-sided to the
Fulanis and in his words the action of the Governor was “partial”.The real forensic analysis that should be conducted by the local and
international media, civil society groups, law enforcement agencies and
concerned citizens is the number of Southern Kaduna indigenes
slaughtered by the Fulani aggressors between the times Governor El-Rufai
started paying them up till this present day.The real concern is how the governor has incentivized these killings
because when you pay money to people who are killing innocent citizens,
you have done nothing but provide the killers with the incentive to
continue killing. Little wonder the crisis in Southern Kaduna has
lingered this long.We are at a critical point in this nation and Southern Kaduna is a
very important part of the equation. Indeed the Acting President,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo last week ensured he visited Kaduna to meet with
some of the stakeholders to plead for the restoration of peace in
Southern Kaduna by dialogue, by consultations and by forgetting past
wrongs and working together towards a new peace pact – a development
that was very welcome by all sides. I don’t see how the persecution of
advocates such as Audu Maikori will help bring peace – instead it brings
a further strain on any efforts of peace building. Let it be known that
persecuting Audu Maikori is persecuting those who continue to cry out
against the killings in Southern Kaduna.This is a time for the Governor to reach out and broker peace in a
state that has been war torn and not to further persecute a people who
have suffered great persecution over the past one year for crying out
for help.Keep praying for the people of Southern Kaduna.