July 03, (THEWILL) – Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, may have withdrawn his son, Abubakar Al-Sadiq El-Rufai, from the public-owned Kaduna Capital School.
The Governor, along with his wife, Ummi, had in September 2019, taken young Abubakar to the Capital school and he was enrolled there.
Crutics had then described El-Rufai’s action as a staged “political media stunt.”
The Governor had assured that the enrolment of his son in a public school would encourage other members of his cabinet as well as privileged individuals to toe his path.
He also spoke about his determination to fix public schools, having attended one himself, as a child.
He said: “I made that commitment because I believe that it is only when all political leaders have their children in public schools that we will pay due attention to quality of public education.
“I went to a public school like this. In fact, the school I went to is not as good as this one, but here I am, because of the qua:lity teaching I got.
“My intention is to ensure that all our public schools offer quality education, and so we are encouraging all our senior public servants to send their children to public schools.
“Once the public schools are improved to a point they are nearly as good or even better than private schools, no one will waste his money taking his child to private school.”
On his part, young Abubakar Al-Sadiq El-Rufai, had said: “I am sad that I will miss my old school, my friends and my teachers. But I have to help my father keep his promise.”
Also, Ummi El-Rufa’i, the mother of the child, had said: “l am glad that we are able to send a strong message to our leaders and the elites, that we need to start making things work from within our homes.”
But, less than two years after the boy’s enrolment in the public school, a DAILY TRUST investigation found that the boy has stopped going to the school.
Schools in Kaduna were shut during the COVID-19 lockdown last year. But since they re-opened, Abubakar Sadiq El-Rufai has been missing.
“We used to see him when he was newly enrolled in the school, but we no longer saw him after the COVID-19 lockdown was lifted late last year and we don’t know why,” a teacher in the school said.
Although the Governor has not stated why he made the volte-face.
But reacting to the development, a resident of Kaduna, Ibrahim Yaro, said he is disappointed at the action.
“I am grossly disappointed because the whole enrolment episode looked deceptive. Leaders should respect their words and the promises they make. After the Governor has removed his son from the public school, he is now busy increasing fees and sacking teachers…. I really don’t understand where he is heading to. Someone should talk to him, please,” he said.
A Human Rights activist and Executive Director, Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, described the Governor’s action as a betrayal of public trust and failure of his government.
Zikirullahi said: “The Governor must also not forget that as the leader of the state, he is a father figure to all the other children in the public school system especially those that don’t have alternatives.
“To simply take his own child out of the school system for whatever reasons, while the children of the poor and vulnerable ordinary citizen are left to face those same challenges, does not show transparency and accountability.”
