Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Kano Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has broken his silence on the controversy surrounding the evacuation of Almajirai, some of who had tested positive to COVID-19 upon arrival in their state of origin.
Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el Rufai has been alleging that a number of almajirai from Kano State confirmed positive for the pandemic on their arrival in Kaduna State.
But speaking during the regular COVID 19 regular press briefing, Ganduje said he did not want to politicise the evacuation of Almajirai like some of his contemporaries were doing.
“Yes, some of the Almajirai that were brought from other states to Kano State were confirmed positive of the virus, some of them that were taken to other states were confirmed positive. The only difference is that Kano State is not playing politics out of it and therefore did not come out to say that the children bought from Bauchi, brought from Plateau or brought from other states have tested positive.”
He said announcing the status of the Amajirai brought to Kano would serve no purpose because what was important was that they had been returned home and were taken to isolation facilities for medical attention.
“Certainly, what they need is not publicity, what they need is attention because the infection had already taken place. So there is nothing we can do about that.”
Ganduje stressed that it was not the transportation of the Almajirai that infected them with Coronavirus.
“The Almajirai were already infected from the origin where they came from. Whether you transport them from another state or you leave them within your state, they are still infected”
“Probably, if not because of efforts to transport to another states, you wouldn’t even know that they were positive cases.”
Ganduje stated that Kano State had the largest number of Almajirai coming from all of the north and beyond, saying that it is against this that his administration decided to return them to their states of origin.
“Here in Kano we make sure that Almajirai system cannot continue as it was in the past. Those Almajirai from Kano State we are ready to put them in the boarding schools so that they can benefit from the conventional system of education and a deeper Islamic education,” he stated.