Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, has accused former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai of deliberately planning the killing of people in Southern Kaduna.

Musa made the statement on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Thursday. He claimed El-Rufai’s time in office created deep divisions in the state, making it hard for people from Southern Kaduna to live freely in the northern part of the state, and vice versa.

“We know how it was when El-Rufai was there; it was toxic,” Musa said. “El-Rufai did a lot of terrible things in Kaduna State. He divided the country, the state, into two.”

He contrasted this with current Governor Uba Sani, saying Sani has worked hard within his first year to restore unity and rebuild trust between residents.

“Governor Sani within one year has been able to dissolve all that. Now everybody is free, everybody has a say. It’s not 100%… but you can see that he’s making deliberate effort in uniting the state,” the minister added.

Musa said people in Southern Kaduna remain deeply hurt over the killings that happened under El-Rufai, who he alleged openly bragged about his actions.

“We can never be happy with somebody who has deliberately planned for the killing of our people,” Musa said. “He told us he paid bandits. He told us he did this, he did that. He didn’t hide it. He was that arrogant to come out and tell people that this was what he did.”

According to the minister, residents of the area are still traumatised by the violence, though the security situation has improved under the current administration. He claimed El-Rufai also denied some people opportunities, adding that his policies hurt even people from his own part of the state.

Musa closed by urging Nigerians to reject politicians who use religion, tribe, or other differences to divide the country.

“Anybody who is using religion or tribe or whatever to divide Nigeria is an enemy of the state,” he said.