My wives abandoned me when I had COVID-19 — El-Rufai

Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai on Saturday recalled his experience with COVID-19 last year and how his family handled it.

Mr El-Rufai said at the seventh Ahmadu Bello Foundation lecture in Kaduna that no fewer than 50,000 people would have been killed by the virus last year if a lockdown had not been imposed.

“A governor infected me with COVID-19 virus and I brought it to Kaduna. I was locked up for 26 days. My wives ran away from me,” he said.

“Fifty thousand people in Kaduna would have died of COVID-19 last year, but for the fact that Kaduna State was the first to lock down.

“I am happy to say because of COVID-19, we have been able to put in place infectious disease wards in our hospitals. People travel around the world so there may be ‘COVID-25’ or 30. With what is happening in India, the situation is scary. But God has been very kind to us.”

The governor imposed a lockdown on Kaduna on March 26, 2020, following the outbreak of the disease and partially lifted it on June 9, 2020, after 75 days.

He spent 26 days in isolation after contracting the disease.

Emphasising the need for the north to improve on the quality of its leaders, El-Rufai argued that 60 years after the demise of the late premier of the defunct northern region, Ahmadu Bello, the region had yet to have a leader like him (Bello).