APC National Chairman. Adamu, Rebukes El-Rufai, Amaechi

By Gideon Njoku

Newly elected National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has warned both the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, and the Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, to be mindful of what they say about the insecurity in the country.

Adamu, a former Governor of Nasarawa State gave the warning in the wake of the comments made by the two after the fatal bombing of the Abuja-Kaduna bound Train on March 28, 2022.

Terrorists had planted bombs along the rail track which exploded on impact with the bombs. As the Train screeched to a halt, the Terrorists appeared in their numbers, invaded the Train, and embarked on a shooting and kidnapping spree.

Figures from the Government say that there were eight fatalities and 26 injured passengers. Nobody is sure of the number of kidnapped passengers, but speculations say about 136 passengers  remain unaccounted for.

An angry and embarrassed El-Rufai has been talking tough since then. He accused the Military of reluctance to confronting and killing the terrorists, even though they know exactly where they are. He said every forest should be bombed to eliminate the terrorists, and acknowledged that some innocent people may die, but quickly added that only criminals live in forests.

He, then, upped the ante.

The Governor threatened to hire mercenaries to fight terrorism in the State if the Federal Government wouldn’t fight it, lamenting the situation. Kaduna State has become the centre of terrorism in the country.

In Amaechi’s case, as the supervising Minister of the Nigerian Railways Corporation, NRC, he said the tragedy could have been avoided if the sum of three billion Naira his Ministry had requested for the installation of security equipment along the rail track was approved. But he said it was shot down, and was responsible for the attack on the train for, according to him, he foresaw it.

However, Adamu, Chairman of their party felt they had “talked too much.” In deed, the opposition PDP had, since, used what El-Rufai and Amaechi said as a peg, and in a statement, held the President Muhammadu Buhari Federal Government responsible for the Train attack and the escalation of insecurity in the North, especially.

So, in a rebuke, Adamu told both men to mind what they say. Speaking in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service monitored by Vanguard in Kaduna, Adamu said he didn’t quite know what the Governor and the Minister think about the insecurity in the country, but warned them: “You don’t take a knife and rip open your belly.” Doing that, he said would be wrong.

El-Rufai has come under the slammer for talking about the use of mercenaries with people reminding him that only President Buhari could give such an order.

Buhari has, also, been criticized for not only delaying in commenting on the tragedy, but for, till date, not visiting Kaduna to commiserate with the people and Government.