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City president, Audu Maikori, has released a statement retracting a story he
shared online some weeks ago where he said that 5 students of the Kaduna state
College of Education were killed in the Southern Kaduna crisis.
According to
Maikori, after carrying out a detailed investigation that involved the police,
he found out that his driver who claimed his brother was also killed, lied to
him just to extort money. Read the statement after the cut...
Following
the statement by the College of Education, Gidan-Waya Kaduna and the Kaduna
State government refuting the story that 5 students of the school were killed
by Fulani herdsmen en-route to school on the 27th of January 2017, as reporter
by my one Simon Joseph (my personal driver) I decided to further investigate
the story to ensure that all the facts of the case and evidence were presented
to the authorities.
My driver
Simon Joseph had travelled to the village to attend his younger brother’s
burial and on his return on Monday the 30th of January 2017, I asked him for
pictures from the burial, the ID card of his brother and also pictures of the
casket so I could submit to the authorities and he told me that he had phone
issues so he could not store pictures on his phone. He told me however that his
sister had the pictures on her phone and I proceeded to give him money to go to
Ikeja to get the pictures from his sister, so I could have evidence. He didn’t
return till evening, and when he did, he showed me some blurry picture of a
male body which didn't show the face of the victim. At this point I began to
strongly suspect foul play. I again questioned him about the veracity of his
story to which he swore on the bible that his brother was dead and even began
to shed tears.
Not totally
satisfied with the story I made contact with his referees ( who helped to
engage him) and they didn't seem to know about any death in his family . So on
the 2nd of February, 2017 I went in company of his referee one Mr Dauda to the
Lekki Police Station for questioning in the absence of his providing any
concrete evidence of the death of his brother and fellow students(He clearly
didn't suspect anything at this stage). When we got to the station, I lodged my
complaint and when he was questioned he maintained his story about the deaths
were real until the police officers at the station threatened to arrest him .
It was only then that he confessed and said he was just trying to collect money
from me; that he knew that I was involved in the advocacy on the Southern
Kaduna crisis and he thought that I after obtaining money for me for the fake
burial expenses I wouldn't cross check the veracity of his story. So he was
duly arrested.
Following
this development, I decided that the right thing to do was to issue a statement
retracting the tweet which reported the killings of students of the College of
Education as relayed to me by my driver. And I had no reason to doubt him due
to the spate of killings in the area and because in the 8 months he has worked
for me, he had never "lied" to me about anything or so I thought.
Besides why would any right thinking human lie about the death of a sibling?
Consequently,
I hereby tender an unreserved and sincere apology to the Management of the
College of Education, Gidan Waya, His Excellency the Governor of Kaduna State
and the Kaduna State Government, and also to the people of Southern Kaduna and
the Fulani community and also VANGUARD newspapers whos source was my driver for
the false statement by my driver which I also publicized believing same to be
true.
This action
is made even more imperative because I understand that as a leader in my
community, my statements are taken seriously and shapes the narrative. But
nothing is more important in leadership than owning up to mistakes honestly and
with integrity regardless of the repercussions or circumstances.
I make this
statement with all sense of responsibility, realizing that by admitting what
transpired, people may begin to doubt my credibility and that of my statements
in future… this is a risk I am willing to take but I would rather tell the
truth about the situation than suppress it.
Besides this
what is clear to me is that there are people who are simply just creating and
concocting pictures and stories to deliberately mislead people , like I was
misled. With benefit of hindsight I should have checked the story in detail but
given that I am not a journalist or Police officer my experience in these
matters are/were limited.
I must also
seize this opportunity to plead with my brothers in Kaduna, regardless of
ethnic or religious persuasion that the time to unite and fight for peace is
now. This unfortunate situation is now actively being used by crisis
opportunists, politicians and some unpatriotic elements to forge their personal
or commercial agendas to the detriment of the peace and stability of the state.
This must stop.
Instructively,
it is important to note that nothing in my clarification undermines the fact
that the lives of Nigerians citizens have been lost in the Southern Kaduna
crisis rather it refers to this particular incident which I have verified to
have been untrue and fraudulent.
The arrest
of the arrest of 17 suspects with arms and ammunition in connection with the
Southern Kaduna killings on the 3rd of February by security agents is evidence
that our agitations are yielding fruit and to that end I commend the government
on these arrests as well as many more in the nearest future.
To this end,
I am even more resolved in this quest for the restoration of peace in Southern
Kaduna and also working even more closely with the all the stakeholders to
ensure that normalcy returns to Kaduna. What is however clear is that
unverified facts , hate messages and ethnic stereotyping only exacerbates the
issues ,they don't help the pursuit of peace.
As I speak,
my former driver Simon has been handed over to the police authorities.He is
available to help the authorities with any further investigations.
Finally all
the people that posted #IstandWithAudu I appreciate the trust bestowed on me
and hope I haven't lost it.
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