El’rufai; Armed Security chiefs in Kaduna are complicit to violence in Kajuru – Says HURIWA: *Seeks Europe wide travel ban on Elrufai and associates:

A leading Non-governmental organization in the country – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has alleged that the governor of Kaduna state; the Army Commander in Kaduna and the heads of other security agencies apart from the police commissioner should be held directly responsible for the renewed violence in Kajuru in Kaduna following their consistent spreading of fake news on the killings of Fulani by the Christian population which must have stoked the embers of revenge killings by armed Fulani herdsmen. HURIWA said it was heartrending that the Federal government watched as the Kaduna state governor through the media outlets in the Country continued to poison the minds of Fulani people by insisting that the indigenous people in Kajuru carried out mass killings of Fulani just as the military commander and others gave tacit support to the Kaduna state governor even whilst he stoked the embers of enmity and conflicts between Fulanis against the Christian neighbours. HURIWA has asked the European Union to impose a travel ban on Nasir Elrufai and all the heads of security forces in the state but the Rights group praised the Police commissioner for refuting the casualty figures that were bandied by Elrufai prior to the latest rounds of revenge killings by armed Fulani killer gangs targeting Christians.

The Rights group also blamed Malam Nasir El’rufai for promoting politics of islamisation of the state machinery by sticking to his despicable choice of a running mate who is also a Moslem in a state that is evenly divided amongst the two dominant religious groups of Christians and Moslems even as the Rights group condemned the electoral heist which occasioned the declaration of El’rufai as winner of the disputed just conducted governorship poll.

HURIWA has therefore encouraged the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party to challenge his alleged manipulated defeat in the election tribunal.

HURIWA recalled that the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, had on February 15th 2019 claimed without any shreds of empirical evidence that there was the death of 66 people in Kajuru Local Government Area of the state who are mostly Fulani and allegedly murdered by the Christians neighbouring the Fulani settlements in Kajuru.

HURIWA accused the Kaduna governor of using the media to foul the harmonious coexistence of Fulanis and their Christian neighbours when he kept hammering in the media of mass communication that amongst the victims were 22 children and 12 women, while four wounded persons were rescued alive, the government stated in a public statement.

HURIWA recalled that even the media that helped spread the falsehood peddled by the current Kafina state administration stated that at the time of the massacres and the incident leading to them were, however, not explained in the release.

HURIWA said thus: "The governor, in the statement, regretted the development and vowed that those responsible for the massacres will be brought to justice.  Then on February 19th 2019, Gov. Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna state says the death toll as a result of the communal clash in the Kajuru Local Government Area of the state has risen to 130 as against the previous figure of 66.El-Rufai stated this when he spoke to State House correspondents after briefing a security meeting which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, recently".

HURIWA recalled that El-Rufai, who alongside the governors of Borno and Adamawa briefed members of the security committee on security situations in their respective states, frowned at those who questioned the initial casualties’ figures of 66 and kept up the tempo of false propaganda about the massacre of Fulanis by their Christian neighbours which must have angered the armed Fulani killer gangs to stage a reprisal which has resulted in many fatalities.

HURIWA recalled that even the government funded News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that several individuals and organizations including the Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) and Human Rights Lawyer, Chidi Odinkalu, had expressed doubt over the occurrence of the killings of the 66 persons.

The Rights group maintained that Elrufai and the mostly Moslem born heads of security forces in the state are guilty of instigating the ongoing massacre of the indigenous people by armed Fulani terrorists.

HURIWA said: "Complicity is the participation in a completed criminal act of an accomplice, a partner in the crime who aids or encourages (abets) other perpetrators of that crime, and who shared with them an intent to act to complete the crime. A person is an accomplice of another person in the commission of a crime if they purpose the completion of a crime, and toward that end, if that person solicits or encourages the other person, or aids or attempts to aid in planning or committing the crime, or has legal duty to prevent that crime but fails to properly make an effort to prevent it."

"At Common Law, actors were classified as principals and/or accessories. Principals were persons who were present at the scene of the crime and participated in its commission. Accessories were persons who were not present during the commission of the crime but who aided, counseled, procured, commanded, encouraged or protected the principals before or after the crime was committed. Both categories of actors were further subdivided. Principals in the first degree were persons who with the requisite state of mind committed the criminal acts that constituted the criminal offense. Principals in the second degree, also referred to as aiders and abettors, were persons who were present at the scene of the crime and provided aid or encouragement to the principal in the first degree. Accessories were divided into accessories before the fact and accessories after the fact. An accessory before the fact was a person who aided, encouraged or assisted the principals in the planning and preparation of the crime but was absent when the crime was committed. An accessory after the fact was a person who knowingly provided assistance to the principals in avoiding arrest and prosecution."

HURIWA argued further thus: "Complicity in criminal law refers to when someone is legally accountable, or liable for a criminal offense, based upon the behavior of another. Criminal complicity may arise in the following situations; i. a person procures, induces or causes such other person to commit the offense; or ii.  a person aids or abets such other person in committing the offense; or iii.  having a legal duty to prevent the commission of the offense, a person fails to make an effort he is legally required to make."