By Ismail Auwal
Security operatives, under the coordination of the Kaduna State Task Force on Implementation of Anti-begging law, have stormed the Quranic school owned by the famous Islamic scholar and leader of Tijjaniya Sufi order, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, and arrested all his almajiri students, in early hours of Thursday.
The school director, Fatuhu Umar Pandori, has confirmed the story in an interview with BBC Hausa service.
“Around 12:00 am, security operatives consisting of police, KASTELEA, and Road Safety broke into our school compound, arrested all the students and took them away,” said Pandori while confirming the story.
He also said that the reason behind the arrest is not yet known to them, but their school has been closed since the state government announced the closure of all schools due to Covid-19.
Pandori added that the students arrested by the task force are mostly those residing in the Sheikh’s compound.
On his side, the leader of the task force, Major General Yahaya Rimi (rtd), in an interview with Sahelian Times, said that the arrest was made as an enforcement of the anti-begging law signed by all the northern states.
Rimi emphasized that this kind of arrest will soon be expanded to all other Almajiri schools in the state.
“The arrested Almajiris that are not indigenes of Kaduna will be deported back to their respective states, and those that are from neighbouring countries like Niger will be handed over to the immigration,” he said.
