Bello El Rufai has apologised for his threatening to r*pe the mother of a Twitter user. In his apology, he said his comments were unbecoming and contrary to the morals he was raised with.
“I wish to withdraw that statement and apologise to the gentleman concerned for the hurtful comment,” El Rufai said “I also apologise for appearing to attack an entire ethnic group for the misdeed of one person.”
On Sunday, son to Governor of Kaduna State, Bello El Rufai had gotten into a tweet-fight with another Twitter user. Responding to a ‘dadd’s boy’ jab from @oewonah, Bello went straight to s*xual threats promising to gang r*pe his mother.
The outrage on Twitter was palpable. In light of his parents being elected public offices, it was unfathomable he’d make such brazen threats.
Even more surprising was his mother, The First Lady of Kaduna State Hadiza El Rufai backing him in her words “All is fair in love and war”
While his mother later caved and apologised for her comments and on her son’s behalf, Bello El Rufai remained obstinate.
He instead threatened to file law suit against Samuel Ogundipe of Premium Times for writing an article on him. He advised Ogundipe to get his lawyers ready as the hash-tag #FreeSamuel may soon be trending; implying Ogundipe would be flung behind bars.
Lingering Outrage
His comments has since sparked off a week long controversy on the internet. Human rights group including Arewa Youth Group condemned his threats in a formal statement; others called for El Rufai’s arrest seeing his comments falls under cyber crime laws.
The conversation on El Rufai’s statements boiled to a raging storm when a young journalist Otosirieze Obi-Young was on Thursday fired from his position as editor at Brittle Paper after he published an article on Mrs El Rufai’s initial stand.
In a statement doused in ambiguity, the CEO of Brittle Paper, Ainehi Edoro inferred Otorsirieze’s article was overly controversial hence, his immediate sack.
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El Rufai’s apology on Friday afternoon can be said to have been necessitated by unrelenting public criticism that days after his statements did nothing to quell.
“I regret the s****l innuendo in the private message and apologise unreservedly for it,” El Rufai said. “I wish to state very strongly that the statement was made during the heat of the moment and I wish to put on the record that I do not condone s****l violence and I certainly do not believe that there can be any justification for gender-based crimes.”
“I am learning from the episode in the continuous journey of emerging as a better person,” he added.
He also pleaded the forgiveness of his mother and the women in his life.
“I have apologised to my mother in person. I have also reached out to the women in my life and apologised”
“I realise that the intensity around this matter stems partly from my surname” he went on “The mistakes I made with the private message and in smearing an ethnic group because of one person are now being replicated by people that are attacking my parents and my family because of my conduct. I am one of many children in a family raised with standards of decency and strong values of which my recent conduct has fallen short”
“I apologise to the general public in recognition of the duty to acknowledge wrongdoing and strive to be better,” The Kaduna Governor son finished.
His apology has was received with more contempt than acceptance. Many have described it as mechanical, lacking in sincerity and contriteness.
Twitter user @oewonah who he insulted his mother is yet to make comments on the apology.
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