The Civil Rights Movement in Nigeria (CRMN) has accused Mallam Nasir El-Rufai of a plot to join President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet through the backdoor.

Describing the former governor as an evil genius, the group said he is out to continue the persecution of Christians in the country.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, convener Okwa Daniel said El-Rufai is using his supposed academic pursuit as a smokescreen to further his evil agenda against Nigeria.

Daniel recalled how the former Minister “triggered the national menace of banditry when upon assumption of office as Kaduna State Governor decided to pay millions of naira to killers who massacred several Southern Kaduna communities instead of asking law enforcement agencies to go after them.”

He added: “Nigerians should ask him to explain how there has been a decline in the activities of bandits after he left office. While he was making a show of being against the bandits his curtailment of the security and military teams that were deployed by the Federal Government to arrest the situation is known in the relevant quarters.

“He should explain to Nigerians how he warned the security and military commanders not to kill people of his ethnic stock even when they are caught committing terrorist acts or kidnapping people for ransom. He should explain the almost zero prosecution rate of those who were arrested and how arrested suspects get back into the wild to carry out more attacks and abductions.

“El-Rufai is equally responsible for promoting a toxic concept of ethnic superiority and vengeance-seeking murderous rage when he wrote on June 15, 2012, on the then Twitter (now X) that ‘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 fallout of that incitement is the murderous campaign being waged by the few misled people who have been killing Christians and other ethnic groups based on el-Rufai’s prompting. There is no record that he walked back this incendiary comment but rather he has further stoked and fanned the fires of ethno-sectarian intolerance among and against Nigerians.

“In retrospect, it is now understandable that the orgy of demolition that el-Rufai carried out as a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was more of him exacting vengeance against the rest of Nigeria for his ethnic group on the one hand, while on the other hand he was able to ensure the suppression of Christians and non-Fulani ethnic groups by causing setback for them to that his ethnic stock can catch up with them in the ownership of real estate in the nation’s capital. The records of how he reallocated demolished plots to his family and ethnic stock are there for all to see.

“Not to be forgotten is the ignoble attempt el-Rufai made to hijack Nigeria from the rest of us in the days before the primaries for the 2023 General Elections. Knowing that the Presidency was coming to the South based on the nation-saving convention in place, he did everything possible to hijack the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the hope of making himself the Vice-President of Nigeria to any of the weak persons he was projecting for president, which would have made him the de facto president and ultimate dictator.

“Gentlemen of the press, el-Rufai only morphed into the Tinubu campaign after his aforementioned plot failed. His participation in the Tinubu camp was not without him exhibiting his incurable extremism and overbearing disposition as he was parading himself as the arrowhead of the then-incoming government.

“In pursuit of his Nigeria domination agenda, he proposed a super ministry for himself by way of a Ministry of Works and Energy, for which he has mobilized the destructive squad that he passes off as ‘a team of technocrats’ – the lie he has used to deceive Nigerians in the past. This is in addition to positioning himself as the equivalent of a prime minister considering the amount of power he wanted to wield.

“We, therefore, appeal to Mr. President to direct the relevant security agencies with international reach to expand and escalate their surveillance of el-Rufai, with extra attention to the organizations and individuals he is networking with. We further recommend that he should be immediately repatriated to Nigeria to answer for his crimes against the land and its people.”