Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna state has said that his recent statement made on a Television programme, ‘Tuesday Live ‘ does not call for violence.
The governor who was quoted on the Television programme saying that any foreigner who intervene during the 2019 elections would send them back in body bags.
But in reaction, the governor, however, said in a statement issued to the Nigerian Tribune and signed by his spokesman, Samuel Aruwan in Kaduna on Wednesday that he was quoted out of context.
The statement averred that: “A notorious trait of the characters that constitute the opposition in Nigeria is the manufacture of outrage on flimsy grounds.”
However, contriving anger on false premises and summoning a din of feverish commentary will not alter the facts. Election season is regarded as silly season in some quarters, but it is a very serious moment.
According to the statement: “When Malam Nasir El-Rufai appeared on NTA’s Tuesday Night Live, he made comments every patriot can understand. He stood up for Nigeria’s dignity in the wake of those who would traduce their country and reduce it to the status of a colony in their vain quest for power.
“The video of his comments is in circulation. Any fair-minded person with modest familiarity with the English language and unimpaired comprehension can understand it. It does not contain any call for violence.
“What it is a powerful defense of sovereignty. Are some sections of our political class implying that they will acquiesce in or collaborate with foreign intervention in our country?
“Affirming that a country will defend itself against needless intervention is the kind of statement you expect to hear from a patriot. It is not a call for violence”, the statement read.
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