Kaduna to evacuate Almajiris over violence threat

Kaduna State Governor, Mukhtar Yero, said the state has planned to send street beggars packing from the state because some politicians have perfected plans to use them to cause violence before, during and after the rescheduled elections.
The governor, who expressed concerns with the influx of beggars from neighbouring states into the state, said a majority of the beggars would leave the state to pre-empt a re-occurence of the 2011 post-election violence in the state.
Yero spoke through his Director-General, Media and Publicity, Malam Ahmed Maiyaki.
Mayaki represented the governor as a guest of the Correspondents Chapel of the Kaduna Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists on Sunday, where he spoke on the state of affairs of the state.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, has asked for a thorough probe of all the killings in the southern part of the state since 2011.
El-Rufai, in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, on Monday, said this while speaking with journalists on his meeting with a team of investigators from National Human Rights Commission.
He said there was the need for an independent, high-powered commission of inquiry to investigate the whole mystery surrounding the killings in the Southern Kaduna.
According to Yero, some selfish politicians are planning to use the street beggars, otherwise known as Almajiris, to cause violence in the state.
Mayaki said it was based on this that the government has put in place measures that would ensure that no Almajiri was allowed into the state from neighbouring states.
Kano, Niger, Zamfara, Plateau, Nassarawa, and Katsina share border with Kaduna State.
He said a majority of the beggars would be sent to their state of origin.
The governor’s said, “Almajiris are agents of destruction in the hands of desperate politicians and I agree that these people are ready tools for selfish politicians and individuals to use during, either politicking or otherwise to achieve their selfish interest.
“And as you may be aware, Kaduna is bordered by about seven states and government has taken steps to address the issue of Almajiris in Kaduna State.
“While they are making it look religious, there is nothing religious or Islamic about the Almajiri. Infact, it is un-Islamic.
“It is a societal challenge because Kaduna is bordered by about seven states and while government is addressing the issue in Kaduna, you have people coming from other states to come and overstretch the policy and intervention of government.
“So you have a lot of people trooping in to Kaduna. So to address it, it must be by joint effort, when you address it in Kaduna, you will address it Katsina and other surrounding states.
“The state government must work with these various states to address this challenge. Some of these peoples are not even Nigerians. And as we speak, a lot of them are being deported back to their countries.”
But El-Rufai, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, told the NHRC that there was a need to also prosecute any person found culpable in all the series of attacks in Southern Kaduna.
He argued that instead of sincere condemnation and quest to contain the killings, those manipulating religion for political power were presently exploiting the situation as a basis for consolidating power.