“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.
We are not running a unitary system, we are a federation. We are elected to govern different states, we owe our people accountability, not the NLC. We should take a common stand.
If it is about rights of workers, then 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, so why didn’t they go to those states?
Kaduna was targeted for political reasons, and they (Labour unions) 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 (Labour Union Leadership) will never come back to Kaduna, they will never come back, you will see.
They will go to other states. It’s up to the forum to decide on what to do, but we (Kaduna State Govt) are here, we are ready, we will end this by the grace of God."
- Gov Nasir El-Rufai
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