BACKGROUND

In an interview on Sunday, el-Rufai alleged that the federal
government is paying bandits to dissuade them from killing Nigerians.

The former governor criticised what he described as a
misguided “non-kinetic” approach to insecurity, and claimed that officials are
paying and feeding bandits rather than eliminating them.

However, the ONSA dismissed el-Rufai’s claim, describing it
as baseless and false.

The ONSA urged the former governor to refrain from
politicising national security institutions, emphasising that the fight against
banditry is a collective one and not a platform for political point-scoring.

El-Rufai also alleged that the Kaduna state government
orchestrated the attack on the African Democratic Congress (ADC) event over the
weekend.

In response, the state government accused him of seeking to
destabilise the state through “provocation and manipulation.”

‘BE ACCOUNTABLE’

In a statement issued on Monday, el-Rufai said calls for
accountability cannot be equated with playing politics.

“It is a well-known fact to discerning Nigerians that the
face of the politicisation of national security for politically intended
purposes resides, for the first time in our recent history, in the ONSA under
its present leadership,” the statement reads.

“If the ONSA thinks Nigerians are not following its unclear
and incompetent management of terrorism and banditry in Northern Nigeria and
beyond, in collaboration with a certain senator, also from the North, then it
is high time it carried out an in-depth evaluation and review of its actions.

“We are not the first to reveal the government’s ongoing
greasing of the palms of non-state actors in Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto,
Niger, Kebbi, and other states.

“No matter how incompetent in security matters he may be,
the National Security Adviser cannot be oblivious to videos and audios of
traditional rulers, community leaders, and religious leaders condemning the
payments made by the state to bandits.

“The attempt at denial falls flat as many citizens in the
affected states have been following the counter-replies by community leaders
and clerics on the issue of the government paying bandits.”

El-Rufai faulted what he called ONSA’s growing involvement
in protocol and public relations duties instead of discreet intelligence
coordination.

He accused the office of indulging in propaganda, such as
parading victims allegedly “rescued” by security agencies when families had in
fact paid ransoms.

“In the megalomania of the National Security Adviser, every
attempt to hold him accountable is politicisation of security, every perceived
enemy of his is a security risk, and every critic of a purportedly democratic
government is unpatriotic. What a shame!

“In the same Kaduna, over a month ago, the ONSA and their
Kaduna collaborator twisted an initiative of a foreign country to provide aid
to indigent citizens into a narrative of donating houses to the victims of
banditry in the state.

“Nigerians should dig deeper into that story and also visit
and verify if the said victims are currently occupying those places after the
politically-inspired media stunt.”

The former governor further criticised the Kaduna government
for allegedly suppressing information on insecurity by muzzling local media,
contrasting it with his administration’s publishing quarterly and annual
reports on security incidents.

“The Kaduna State Government is obviously disappointed that
the recent revelations by SaharaReporters and SBM Intelligence have shattered
the false facade it had presented on kidnapping and other security issues,” he
said.

“In response, the state government chose to quarrel with the
data, which it knows to be true because it has consistently tried to suppress
information on security incidents from reaching the public by muzzling or
inducing the local media not to report such incidents.”

El’Rufai asked the ONSA and the Kaduna state government to
publicise the location and details on how they are implementing the
disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration of the “so-called repentant
bandits”.