Stop hounding Maikori and face the real issues, Choc City co-founder tells El-Rufai

Two days after Chocolate City boss Audu Maikori was re-arrested by security operatives over his Southern Kaduna comments and whisked away to Kaduna for further investigation, Paul Okeugo- Choc City Group Co-Founder and a personal friend of Audu Maikori for many years has penned a statement confirming Maikori’s arrest.

The statement by Okeugo called on Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai to stop his persecution of Maikori and face the real issues which has caused the deaths of hundreds of people from Southern Kaduna who have been killed in the past year.

He said in the statement that; “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.

Read also: El’Rufai makes good his threat as Maikori is re-arrested over S’Kaduna comments

“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 https://twitter.com/Audu/status/812251061301968896 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: https://www.facebook.com/audumaikori/posts/10154000363611050

“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 the Governor/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) http://saharareporters.com/2016/12/26/el-rufai%E2%80%99s-blunders-and-christmas-killings-southern-kaduna-moses-e-ochonu One wonders if the Governor will also arrest and charge Sahara Reporters for posting this story,” the statement by Okeugo read in part.

Recall two weeks ago that Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai while speaking at the Lagos Social Media Week said Maikori ‘‘must suffer for the consequences of his comments’’.

El-Rufai said Maikori will be prosecuted over his misleading tweets on Southern Kaduna attack for posting on his Twitter time-line that five students of the College of Education, GidanWaya in Kaduna state, were ambushed and killed by herdsmen while on their way back to school on January 22nd.

In his comments while addressing the matter, El-Rufai said; “Audu Maikori rushed to publish a false story without checking with anyone. But before then, he had been posting fake pictures by posting Boko Haram attacks, Rwanda genocide as Southern Kaduna killings which elicited a lot of emotions on social media”.

The re-arrest of Maikori came two days after he collapsed at an event in Lagos and was subsequently rushed to ST Nicholas hospital where he was revived.

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