July 03, (THEWILL) –Â Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has said he stopped his son, Abubakar Al-Sadiq, from Kaduna Capital school, after bandits attempted to kidnap him twice.
The Governor made this known during an interview with BBC Pidgin after earlier accusations that he withdrew the child secretly.
THEWILL reports that Governor Nasir El-Rufai, along with his wife, Ummi, in September 2019, took young Al-Sadiq El-Rufai to the Capital school and the boy was there enrolled.
According to him, withdrawing Al-Sadiq is to discourage bandits from attacking the school.
He claimed that the withdrawal was to save the child and his colleagues who might be affected by the bandits’ attacks.
El-Rufai disclosed that he had also enrolled Sadiq’s younger sister, Nasrine, in the same school after turning six years, before the security development forcing the family to withdraw the children temporarily.
He however said that the two children, who are currently home-schooling and only go to Capital School to write exams, will return fully when security improves.
The Governor explained: “My son and also 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 the security of the school because we received a 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 had earlier spoken against the payment of ransom to kidnappers, saying he won’t be involved in such even if his son is kidnapped.
“I mean it and I will say it again here. Even if my son is kidnapped, I will rather pray for him to make heaven instead because I won’t pay any ransom,” the Governor had said during a radio interview in April.
