TheCable

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, has reached out to some pastors in the state for support, saying as a human being, he is not immune to mistakes.

The governor said this during a town hall meeting with some pastors under the umbrella of Pastors United For Change Association (PUCA), on Saturday.

He explained to them that his choice of Hadiza Balarabe, a Muslim, as his running mate in the March 2 gubernatorial poll, had nothing to do with religion.

The governor, who had earlier said 67 percent of the Christians would not vote for him even if he picked the pope as running mate, told the pastors he chose Balarabe based on merit.

“In my life I have never worked with people based on religious and ethnic consideration. Don’t look at what people said but what I have done in the past,” el-Rufai said.

“Go through my records and see what I have done. On the issue of my running mate, we are encouraging women participation in politics, she is a competent woman.

“Only Kaduna state has male/female governorship ticket in northern Nigeria. Prof.Andrew Nok, our late commissioner for education, brought Dr.Hadiza Balarabe when we were looking for someone that can revive our primary health in the state and she performed excellently well.

“I don’t know her before. Her choice as running mate has nothing to do with religion… I am confident that, my running mate will run the state effectively and will be fair to all in the state even if I am not around.

“When you get into office politics stop. You must be fair to all. Check our records in the last three years and six months, we have worked.

“We built, repaired primary, secondary schools. We fixed our primary health centres… I’m human and I can make mistakes like any other person. I will be fair to everybody.

“We must unite our people for progress. I want Kaduna state to interact on the basis of humanity not religion and ethnicity.”