The Governor of Kaduna State has disclosed that he withdrew his son, Abubakar Al-Sadiq El-Rufai from a public primary school in the state.
There have been rumours that he secretly withdrew the child for Kaduna Capital School, one of th oldest public schools in Northern Nigeria due to fears of bandits and possible kidnap.
The Governor had enrolled the six-year-old toddler in the school in 2019 and in fulfilment of one of his campaign promises.
However, the Special Adviser on Media and Communication to the Governor, Muyiwa Adekeye denied comment when newsmen sought clarifications on the withdrawal.
Governor El-Rufai on his part, told BBC Pidgin in an interview that he was forced to withdraw his son from the public school based on security challenges.
He added that he also withdrew his daughter, Nesrin from the school after bandits threatened to attack her school and he took the step based on recommendations of security agents.
According to him, “My son and daughter are registered in the school because his sister became 6 and we had to register her.
“But we have to temporarily withdraw them for the security of the school because we got intercepts from at least two groups that are planning to attack the school to kidnap my son.
“I don’t think they will succeed because there will be enough security there to prevent it but other children may be placed in danger.
The governor added that, “We have no idea what weapons they will come with. I have taken a stand against paying bandits and at least three groups of bandits have been intercepted planning to go to Kaduna Capital School and kidnap my son and ‘see if they catch my son, I go say I no go pay ransom ?”
He said that his decision was not a way to backtrack on his campaign promise but to ensure the safety of the school and other people’s children considering that they had become a prime target just because his children are there.
“We believe in leading by example, we believe in whatever policy we propose that will affect people negatively, we start imposing it on on us.”
Nasir El-Rufai added that regardless of the fact that his son has stop going to the school, he is still registered with the school and goes to take his exams as he has not been registered in any other school.
He promised that the children will return to the classrooms the moment the security situation improves.
“It is my intention that my children will be in public school as long as I am the governor here.
“Of course, when I finish my term, I will move out, I intend to leave Kaduna when I finish. I am not going to stay here. I may explore other options of putting them in other schools.”
The governor explained the difficulties he has explaining to his son, why he is not in his classroom with his friends.
“He keeps asking, ‘Baba, when will I go back to school, I miss my friends, I miss my teachers.’ I told him not yet. You cut tell a 7-year-old you are likely to be kidnapped.
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