Kaduna Killing: Why Buhari Is Still Silent-Femi Adesina

Adesina

With the death toll from last Saturday’s attack on the village of Goska, near Kafanchan, Jema’a Local Government Area, LGA, of Kaduna State haven risen from five to 11, pressures are mounting on the presidency for President Muhammadu Buhari to speak on the matter.

But the Special Adviser to the president on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said yesterday that Buhari cannot speak on every matter.


The spokesman who cited Nigeria’s federal structure, Mr. Adesina said there was no need for Buhari to speak since el-Rufai was “on top of the matter.”
Speaking in a television programme monitored by the Vintage News, the presidential aide, Adesina, said as the chief security officer of his state, the onus is on el-Rufai, who had pledged to bring the perpetrators to book, to deal with the matter.

He said: “You don’t have to hear from the President on that matter. When it pays us, we talk about federalism and true federalism; yet you want the president and presidency to talk about everything.

“When a thing like this happens in a state, there is a chief security officer and he is supposed to be on top of the matter. Governor el-Rufai was at the villa to brief the President.

“So why should the President then be talking about it? True federalism means the governor should be in charge and he is in charge of it.”

Adesina said local authorities must play a crucial role in stopping the violence, saying state and local governments have a major role to play in dealing with the herdsmen crisis.

He said Buhari was always in constant touch with governors, whenever an attack occurred, to get timely updates.

The spokesperson said Buhari had consistently maintained that the best way to stop the killings was through collaboration between the states and the grassroots leaders in local governments.

“The Federal Government has roles to play, but not as much as the state and local governments,” he said.