The Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, has on Sunday, broken his silence as he hit hard at his counterpart Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, to stop the noise making and politicising of the issue of Almajiris been evacuated to Kaduna State, who have tested positive for the coronavirus.
This was as he said that some of the Almajiris also evacuated to Kano State during the exercise, were Covid-19 positive, but the fact that he did not make noise about it, does not mean that they were all healthy and without Covid-19 infection.
Recall, that Governor El-Rufai had said that about 50 Almajiris or more, evacuated to the State from Kano State had tested positive for Covid-19, and also those from Jigawa and Gombe States, 16 and 8, respectively.
Reacting, Governor Ganduje in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Abba Anwar, said that what the children (Almajiris) need at that critical point, is care-giving, instead of noise making and politicising the issue.
The statement titled, ‘We are not making politics out of it, no noise making’. read:
“To put record straight on the movement of Almajiri across States of the Federation, and how Kano embarks on the exercise.
“We agreed at the Northern Governors Forum, that all Almajiris moved to their States of origin. That is why we are sending, in good faith and procedures, all Almajiris that are not from Kano State to their respective States of origin.
“The exercise was not political, and should not be politicised.
“The way we are sending back Almajiris to their States of origin, we are also receiving Almajiris from other States who are Kano indigenes. But the fact that we are not making noise about it, does not mean they are all healthy without Covid-19 infections.
“Let us make it categorically clear that, some of the Almajiris brought to Kano during the exercise, are also Covid-19 positive, but we are not making politics out of it. Because we all believe that what they need most now, is not noise making or publicity. What they need at this critical point in time is, care-giving.
“People should also understand that these children were not infected in the process of transporting them to their respective States. So noise making is not fit as a way forward. All we are doing, is simply to comply with the Northern Governors’ Forum decision, that all Almajiris in our States should be taken back to their respective States, simple.”
Meanwhile, the rivalry between the two Governors, could be traced back to when the former Emir of Kano Emirate, Muhammadu Sanusi II, was dethroned and banished to Nasarawa State, and Governor El-Rufai visited him (Sanusi), appoint him Chancellor of the Kaduna State University, and also Vice Chairman of the Board of Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency, a development which seemed not to have gone down well with Governor Ganduje.