Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has accused his fellow governors of abandoning his administration in its face-off with the Nigeria Labour Congress.
El-Rufai made the accusation at the virtual meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum on Wednesday.
He also accused a fellow governor of providing mobilisation funds for the NLC to destabilise his state.
Although the NGF issued a statement calling on the parties to negotiate, El-Rufai said he didn’t see a whiff of support from the statement.
He said the statement issued by the chairman of the forum, Kayode Fayemi was trying to appease the two sides.
“That press release with the greatest respect was unhelpful. It was unhelpful. It said nothing. It was trying to play both sides.”
“I am a governor. I am one of you. The least I expect from the Nigeria Governors Forum is unequivocal and unqualified support. I didn’t see that in that statement.
“I am being very blunt. I could pretend and be political and just smile and say it was alright but it is not. But I am used to fighting my own battles.”
El-Rufai bared his mind after the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, expressed displeasure over the lack of support for El-Rufai.
He explained that what the Kaduna State governor was dealing with would soon catch up with other states if the situation was not properly managed.
He said, “We are not running a unitary system (of government), we are a federation. We were elected to govern different states. We owe our people accountability not the NLC, we should take a common stand.”
El-Rufai described labour unions as the greatest threat to Nigeria.
He said governors must come together to tackle their menace to prevent the country from degenerating further.
“We will fight this. We are breaking them and they will leave town ashamed. I will not give them one inch because this is not about unionism.
“If it is about rights of workers, Kaduna is not the only state that has retrenched workers. Kaduna is not a state owing salaries. Kaduna is not a state failing to pay minimum wage.
“Kaduna is not a state owing years of pension arrears. Why didn’t they go there? Kaduna was targeted for political reasons; and they are being financed by certain political interests.
“But we will fight them, we will defeat them but as the Governor of Bayelsa said, and since he has brought that subject, I have a responsibility to put it through, unless we collectively address this monster, it will consume all of us.
“After this, they (NLC) will never come back to Kaduna. They will never come back, you will see. They will go to other states. It is up to the forum to decide on what to do, but we are here, we are ready, we will end this by the grace of God.
“I would like to inform the forum that one of our colleagues, a state governor actually gave the NLC money to come to Kaduna to do this because people think everything is politics. This is not politics. This is a monster that will consume all of us. It will not consume Kaduna, I’m confident of that.”
Workers in the state on Monday began a five-day warning strike over El-Rufai administration’s alleged retrenchment of 45,000 workers and alleged anti-labour policies.
Electricity supply was cut off, banks shut and fuel queues emerged in the state as the unions tried to paralyse economic activities.
Ayuba Wabba, who led the strike for three days, called it off on Wednesday.
But El-Rufai said he would charge Wabba under the Miscellaneous Act of 1983, for sabotaging the economy of the state.
A peace meeting called by the Labour Ministry is scheduled for Abuja today.
Although Kaduna State Government says no official of the State will go to Abuja for any meeting with FGN or NLC when the citizens of the State have no electricity.
A statement by El-Rufai’s spokesperson Muyiwa Adekeye quoted him as saying” We hold the FGN responsible for inability to assert its ownership rights over TCN. No electricity, no meeting”
The statement read; ”The Kaduna State Government is yet to see evidence that the NLC is backing off from its campaign of economic and social sabotage against the people of the State.
”Electric power is yet to be restored, after it was shutdown at dawn on Sunday, 16th May 2021, in brazen violation of the laws protecting essential services and infrastructure. That action removed any basis for state government officials to meet the NLC last Sunday. Denying our people electricity about 18 hours to the advertised commencement of their organised sabotage was akin to putting a gun on the government’s head. Government has a lawful duty not to indulge blackmail.
”Restoring electricity is vital to relieving some of the pain that needless acts of lawlessness have inflicted on our people. The unimpeded provision of essential services is vital to civilised order.
”Those who have disrupted it should promptly reverse themselves, not expect that it will be a matter for negotiation, much less being viewed as a precondition. KDSG will not participate in such a negotiation or countenance one whilst our people are still being denied their right to electricity.”
