'Audu Maikori is irresponsible and he'll be prosecuted', Gov vows

His arrest arrived on the heels of social media posts he had authored.

In the tweets and and Facebook posts, Maikori splashed pictures of 'killings' and violence in Southern Kaduna, interspersing same with loads of commentary.

As it turned out, most of the graphic images Maikori posted of corpses strewn across the streets, were not images from the violence in Southern Kaduna.

Maikori was arrested for 'inciting violence' with his social media posts and was released a day later following pleas and interventions from social media.

Maikori's arrest had the backing of Kaduna State Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, it soon emerged.

At the ongoing Social Media Week in Lagos which is being covered by Pulse, El-Rufai described Maikori's actions as indefensible and lawless.

"Let me start with me. I have used social media as a citizen…as an opposition politician...very effectively. I have over a million followers on Twitter, I have over 750, 000 followers on Facebook. So, I know the power of social media. And I have the capacity to counter any propaganda personally because I have more following than any public figure in Nigeria. But we must use that power with responsibility", the Governor warned.

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As the controversy over Maikori's posts and subsequent arrest raged, El-Rufai was called out on social media by hordes of users, for being guilty of inciting violence himself.

In July of 2012, El-Rufai had posted the following on his Twitter account:

"We will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not, that kills the Fulani, takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it takes".

The contentious post has been used as a lightning rod for El-Rufai's back since 2012, by critics and opposition hirelings alike.

But the Kaduna Governor said there was context to his tweet.

"People are making reference to what I tweeted in 2012. What did I tweet?

"I tweeted that any person, soldier or not, that kills a Fulani takes a debt that will be repayable in 100 years. It’s a statement of fact.

"It’s not a threat. It’s not an incitement to violence. And there’s a context to it:

"In 2012, the General Officer Commanding 3 Division in gave an instruction at the behest of the Governor of to wipe out two Fulani settlements just outside Jos, on the suspicion that they have weapons.

"This was reported by the Governor of Plateau State and the Commander gave the order and I heard about it.

"I called and said ‘don’t do that. Go and surround the place and search for weapons’. But that was not the objective. The objective was to remove them from the settlement because they are settlers. And people that think that land is their ancestral land, want to take the land. It is not because they have weapons.

"Now, I know the nature of the nomadic Fulanis. My great, great, grand parents used to be such people. If you kill any of them unlawfully, they organize to take revenge, no matter how long it takes.

"Now, for me, the danger is this—if the Nigerian army goes out and wipes out a Fulani settlement, any person wearing a Nigerian army uniform in 14 West African countries, is at risk, because these Fulanis may have relations in in , in in .

"And word will go round that the Nigerian army has committed genocide against the Fulanis and anywhere you see any person wearing a Nigerian army uniform is a target for retaliation.

"And I warned the Commander that this will happen. He did not listen and that’s why I put it on the record. So that when it starts happening, nobody will say he was not warned.

"Ultimately because of that tweet, the Commander retracted his plan, they went and surrounded the settlement and searched for weapons and found none.

"And to me, what I did averted a potential disaster. But that is being put as if I tweeted something inciting anyone.

"If you don’t believe me, if you don’t believe what I tweeted, go and do what I said don’t do and see the consequences, okay?"

The Governor said his post from 2012 can't be compared to Maikori's string of posts on the Southern Kaduna killings.

"But fast forward to 2016 or 2017. What did Audu Maikori do?

"Audu Maikori rushed to publish a false story without checking with anyone. But before then, he had posted fake pictures of attacks, wanton genocide as Southern Kaduna killings and elicited a lot of emotion on social media.

"But more than that, what he posted may have led to killings and we are trying to link the date of the postings to attacks that happened the next day on Fulanis. And if we are able to establish that correlation, as lawyers you know what it means".

El-Rufai said Maikori's actions were irresponsible.

"It is totally irresponsible to do that.

"And even when it was pointed out to him that look, this information is untrue…the college of education issued a statement denying that anyone had been killed because the school had been closed since November. How could a school that has been closed have students that could be killed?

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"But Audu still posted that he stood by his story, he questioned the authenticity of the press statement…he was totally and completely irresponsible and we are going to prosecute him.

"He was arrested, his statement has been taken, he’s on bail..he’s going to be prosecuted. His fate will be decided by a Judge.

"It’s not about Nasir El-Rufai. It’s not personal. I have nothing against him. In fact, he has worked with the State government in the past. But I’m not going to sit as Governor of Kaduna State and allow anyone to post or tweet anything that leads to loss of lives without consequence. That will be irresponsible on my path.

"It is a matter of law. It is not a matter of emotions.

"And, since we started going after people that have posted these fake pictures, we have had some sense of moderation in this.

"You cannot rush and use a platform like that without checking because there are two sides to this conflict. And anything you post, can elicit a reaction from one of the sides. So, you should at least be sure that what you are posting is true. And there are ways of checking.

"It takes five, ten minutes to check. Call the Police…there are authorities that you can check with. But you are rushing to get retweets and following without regard to the fact that what you are doing could lead to more violence or loss of lives.

"I’m the Governor of the State. I’m not in this game to get following. My responsibility as Governor of the State is to ensure the security of lives and property of the State. And I would not allow anyone—even my own Son—to do that kind of thing without consequence".

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) alleges that as many as 1,000 persons have lost their lives in Southern Kaduna since the latest round of violence commenced.

The perpetrators are alleged to be Fulani herdsmen and the victims, Christians.

Between January 6 and 9, 2017, the killers reportedly struck Tachirak, Adu and Tsonje villages of Kagoro town in Kaura Federal Constituency of Southern Kaduna, killing 13 persons.

The epicenter of the violence has been Kafanchan, Zangon-Kataf, Godogodo, Gidan Waya, among other communities.

A handful of persons have been arrested in connection with the killings.