Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has opened up on why he had to temporarily withdraw his son, Abubakar Sadiq, from Kaduna Capital School, a public school where he had enrolled him in 2019, saying it was for security reasons.
According to the governor, intelligence report available to him had indicated that three bandit groups were planning to abduct his son from the school and for him that could also endanger the lives of other school pupils, hence he withdrew him and save the lives of others too.
The governor, who disclosed this in an interview with the BBC Pidgin Service, also disclosed that he had also enrolled Sadiq’s younger sister, Nasrine in the same school after she turned six, before the family withdrew both children temporarily owing to the security concern.
According to him, “my son and my daughter are registered in the school, because his (Abubakar-Sadiq) sister also clocked six and we registered her in the school. But we had to temporarily withdraw them for security of the school because we received security report that three groups were planning to attack the school and kidnap my son.
“I don’t think they (kidnappers) would have succeeded because there are enough security in the school to prevent them, but it would expose other pupils of the school to danger. We didn’t know the kind of weapon they would have brought.
“I had taken a stand against payment of ransom and we had report that, three groups were planning to kidnap my son from Capital School to see whether I will pay ransom or not if my son is kidnapped,” el-Rufai disclosed.
The governor reiterated that the family had to make the decision to withdraw his son and daughter based on the security advice of the security agencies.
El-Rufai, however, added that, “both Abubakar Sadiq and Nasrine will go back to the school when there is confidence that their attendance will not put the school at risk.”