Former Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai  has stated that no one can prove that the rights of Christians in Kaduna were violated while he was governor.

He said this while addressing what appears to be a group of Islamic scholars in a video that has gone viral on social media.

In the video, he defended his decision to nominate Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, a fellow Muslim, as his running mate during the 2019 elections.

Citing the lack of electoral support from non-Muslims for their party, the politician questioned the rationale behind conceding the running mate position to those who are unlikely to vote for them.

During his speech, he mentioned that he selected a Muslim candidate as his running mate in the 2019 election because he was confident they could secure victory without relying on votes from Christians in the state.

He said “Whenever I’m asked why I nominated a fellow Muslim, Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe as running mate in 2019, I do say to them, that I have done the calculation, most of the people who are not Muslims don’t vote for our party(APC) so why should I pick one of them as my deputy?

“More so that I’ve calculated that we can win without their votes so why do I have to give them the deputy governor’s office? When we went campaigning the last time, they asked but we didn’t tell them exactly so.

“In politics, all that matters is to win, that’s why you go for people who’ll vote for you. We’ve done our survey, the outcome is that we don’t need them to win, so we don’t have to give them the deputy governor. Since the return of democracy, I’ve been able to identify our winning demography; that’s one.

“The second thing we want to prove, which we’ve been able to do in the past four years is that a government where the governor, deputy governor, Secretary to the State Government, Chief of Staff and the finance commissioner are all Muslims, Christians would have their rights protected. We intend to showcase the justice that’s embedded in Islam.

“This we’ve defended everywhere we went. Granted, Kaduna State Government is dominated by Muslims, but can anyone prove that the rights of Christians were violated under us? Better still, is there any district where we didn’t build roads, hospitals, or schools; or is there such a district where we didn’t support farmers through our agricultural scheme, whether or not they voted for us? Absolutely there’s none.

“Of course, for instance, we got more votes from Kubau, that’s why I’ll provide more democracy dividends there. Yes, I have to deliver double what I’ll take to Jaba to Kubau. This is in tandem with what you, the Imams and clerics have taught us; this type of Islamic leadership is driven by justice for all.

“Our revered prophet and his companions cohabited with the Jews, Christians, and even unbelievers and they all were loyal to him because he upheld justice for all.

“There is no one that would say because he is not a Muslim, he was oppressed unless knowing that if someone deserved more, add a little to him but don’t oppress someone’s right.

“Everytime we went campaigning during this last election, if they said ” Bla-bla-bla” I would reply yes it is true. We are looking for those who will work. We are not looking for anybody’s religion. We look at the religion but I will not say it that way but I am saying who has been cheated? Stand up and tell us if this government has treated you unfairly.

“Both me and my colleagues including Samuel Aruwan proved since senator Una Sani. And Dr Hadiza Balarabe  Sabuwa still won their election even with the religious coupe that was plotter against us and again you the clerics, and the Imams here are the ones who worked not even the government.