By Adesina Soyooye
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, presents the face of a hard- nut. A face of indifference to the State of the Nation. A face that everything is okay. A face that he is stone-hearted;
Not moved by emotions or public opinion. Once he believes in something, good or bad, he sticks to his opinion and beliefs.
If you are in doubt, consider how he handled the abduction of the students and staff of Greenfield University by bandits.
From the minute the Governor was told of the abduction of the students, his first reaction was that his Government would never pay a kobo in ransome money to the abductors.
Not a few people thought he was joking. They had a reason to think so.
Afterall, was it not the same El-Rufai who slammed the Government of former President Goodluck Jonathan for its alleged reluctance to pay ransome to the abductors of Chibok girls. He had said, then, that any responsible Government would pay.
But it seems, now, to be a different El-Rufai. He has changed his views on so many issues, including his very negative views on the then candidate Major General Muhammadu Buhari.
But not many people thought he would play the hard nut with the lives and safety of abducted students.
When the abductors killed three of the students, the Governor was not moved to negotiate for ransome. Two days later, they killed two more of the students, yet ke was not moved. He simply sent condolence messages to their parents.
Then he worsened the case for the abducted students by publicly saying they had been located, and he had plans to storm the location using the Military. On the effect such a move could have on the students, he undiplomatically, some say heartlessly, said that some would be lost, and some lost.
Most Nigerians accused him of not speaking like a parent. They said that for a parent, he had no feelings at all.
Well, not true.
Apparently, when it comes to his own children and family, there is a different El-Rufai.
Forget the assertion by one of his wives that even if she, El-Rufai’s wife, is kidnapped, her husband will not pay ransome.
Not true.
She was just talking. She knows she is not vulnerable. She does not go where she could be kidnapped. She is safe, with maximum protection.
To prove that El-Rufai would give an arm to save any member of his family from being kidnapped, look at what he has just done.
In 2019 or early 2020, Governor El-Rufai had made a dance and song of sending one of his sons, then six-year old Abubakar-Sadiq, to a public school in Kaduna.
Deserved applause.
At that level, they don’t send their children to public schools. They send them to private schools or schools outside Nigeria. Public schools in Nigeria are so run down that they are no inspiration to any child or parent. The environment is worse than a pig’s sty. And the teachers are not inspired. They are owed several months of salaries and allowances.
So, the photograph of the Governor accompanying his son on his first day in school to register him at the Kaduna Capital School made news. But Capital School is not just any Public school, thanks to the Governor.
Before El-Rufai sent his son there, he had spent hundreds of millions of Naira, to make it a Grade A school.
But now, El-Rufai has pulled Sadiq out of Kaduna Capital School. He also stopped Sadiq’s younger sister, Nasrine, who just turned six, from resuming classes there.
Here’s why?
El-Rufai is afraid of bandits.
He doesn’t want his children abducted like the children are other parents.
So, he withdrew them from school.
Speaking to the BBC Hausa Service, the Governor said he withdrew his son, and stopped his younger sister from joining him at Capital School for fear of bandits, for fear of abduction.
He said credible security information point to the fact that, at least, three different sets of bandits had planned to storm the school, and abduct his son from there. He didn’t want to take chances. He took a preemptive action, which was to withdraw his son, and stop the registration of his daughter.
Now, he said, his son is being taught at home – in the secured environment of Government House – and only goes to the school to take examinations. He says the kid and his sister would resume normal classes when things normalise. When that will be, nobody knows.
But, it will be good to know how many security agents accompany young Sadiq to the school for exams. And it would be good to know what the Governor could have done just if, God forbid, his children were kidnapped from school.
Will El-Rufai refuse to pay ransome, and leave them at the mercy of dangerous criminals? Or, ask the Military to storm their location, and tell their mother: If they are rescued fine, if they are killed in the process, fine?
For now, the score is: Bandits – one. El-Rufai- zero.
