How Sacking Kaduna Teachers Nearly Cost Me Re-Election – El-Rufai
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has explained how he was willing to sacrifice his second term ambition in order to give children from his state quality education.
The governor sought re-election for a second term in office in the 2019 general elections and has two more years to complete his tenure.
Speaking during the Ekiti State’s Fountain Summit 2021 with the theme ‘Investment Attractiveness and Economic Development in Ekiti State’ which held in Ado-Ekiti, El-Rufai said he was threatened with an election loss.
El-Rufai said he insisted and eventually carried out the test on teachers in Kaduna notwithstanding the threat.
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“My brother here was said to have lost his second term bid the first time because he threatened to test teachers,” he said.
“I tested them and fired them before our election. When I was asked that I would lose the second term, I said if losing second term in office will give Kaduna State children a future with better primary education, I am ready to let it go.”
El-Rufai also listed two factors that enabled him retain his position as Kaduna governor, noting that he timed the mandatory test for teachers within his first two years in office and that the exercise was carried out honestly without partisan politics.
While noting that he attended government schools in his life until he went for his second degree, El-Rufai noted that his administration sent a clear message that the poor man’s child in Kaduna was eligible to emerge as governor.
He recalled that while sacking teachers, two of his colleagues backed his decision but expressed fear in implementing the policy in their respective states.
According to him, the two governors who wanted to conduct teachers’ tests after their re-elections however lost their second term bids.
