Senator Shehu Sani is the Senator representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly. He has remained critical of the el-Rufai government in Kaduna State despite coming from the same party with the governor. In this interview with Tony Akowe, the civil rights crusader speaks on his disagreement with the former FCT minister, why the Senate confirmed former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and other issues. Excerpts
The senate confirmed ministerial nomination of former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, despite protest by the PDP. What informed that decision?
The decision of the senate is more of partisanship than morality. Senators from both the PDP and APC had taken positions based on the exigent interest of their own political parties. As for the PDP senators, the allegation they brought at hand were that Amaechi had corruptly enriched himself in office and so must be slapped. But in the actual sense, they had grudges against him over the role he played in the termination of the PDP out of power. As for the APC senators, the moral question raised about Amaechi’s eligibility into office was suppressed and instead, the senators took positions that are in line with the interest of the party. Posterity is the best judge of controversies. Actually, senators have a duty to confirm ministers, present the best and ensure that those who are going to serve have the right moral, ethical and professional qualification to be in that office. But politics is like a “war”. You can use any means by which you are going to win. The APC sees Amaechi as one of its own. On the other hand, the PDP is not against Amaechi because he is allegedly corrupt, but because he worked against their party and posses an existential danger to the survival of the party. Amaechi is a beneficiary of conflict of interest and a beneficiary of a political atmosphere that put forward partisan interest ahead of conscience and moral standing.
You have been at dagger drawn with the Kaduna State governor. What is the cause of the quarrel considering the fact that two of you worked for the success of APC in the state?
Well, I have said this in several interviews which I have given. The problems between el-Rufai and I began from the primary elections. I was not his favorite candidate for the primary election because he had his own candidate who I defeated. The second aspect has to do with his style of governance. Many people say that as a politician, you are not permitted to speak against any of of your own publicly. But I don’t believe in that. If you can speak out against your brother or sister, if you can speak out against your neighbour and people whom you share the same religion, there is nothing wrong in speaking out against a person simply because he is from your political party. Kaduna is today being presided over by a man who perceives himself as an emperor. He has emasculated the political party. If you go to the party headquarters in the state, nothing is happening there because he has appointed the leading members of the executive into his government and now, you don’t see anybody in the secretariat. He has marginalised all those who struggle and fought to build the party in the state and made it possible for the party to win the general election. He has also marginalized people who contested the elections with him.
He is out to experiment the Adam Smith school of thought on Kaduna. All the steps he has taken are steps meant to enrich consultants, commissioned agents, the rich, contractors and middle men. His policies are aimed at lifting the people out of poverty or unfolding people oriented programmes. He has a conservative, capitalist world view. The world is moving east and he is insisting that we go west. So, I do not live on the same frequency with el-Rufai. I am from the left wing of the political divide and he is from the right wing. My background is that of activism and his own background is that of an accidental civil servant and now the governor of the state. He has been out of Kaduna for over two decades and APC brought him back to Kaduna. He is so detached and disconnected from the people on the ground. While governors from other states are building mass housing estates, el-Rufai wants to build a five star hotel, amusement parks and shopping malls in Kaduna. He has brought in an Abuja real estate mentality into Kaduna. He wants to mortgage Kaduna to private property, private interest and private business consultants. I am disturbed about that.
So, we are deeply concerned. We need to understand that in Kaduna, APC does not have total control of the state. APC has the northern and central senatorial zones while the southern part of the state is still PDP. If we don’t take measures in winning the heart of the people, we will stand a serious danger in 2019 because the balance between the APC and the PDP in the state is still very fragile.
You have embarked on several projects within your constituency. How did you source the money for this in view of the fact that no money has been made available for that, especially the Talakawa empowerment programme you launched recently?
Before I became a senator, I have always been involved in helping the poor. The poor masses are my constituents. I stand for them and they also stood for me by voting me into office. I will use the little I have to execute projects to help alleviate their sufferings and meeting their expectations. We are living in difficult times as a nation when our earning from oil has depleted so much. The value of our currency is stagnant and government is facing serious cash crunch. There is also a mountain of expectations on those in position of authority to perform. There is also the need to prove that the change we promised Nigerians is possible. I am simply using the little I have to maximize impact in the lives of those I represent. Nigerians will not take any excuse.
It is in the realm of difficulties and hardship that leaders are expected to perform. We have a duty to rescue our country from the economic doldrums; to give hope and meaning to the lives of our people. We have a duty to restore the glory of our father land. As a senator, I have, all my life, fought for the masses and so, I cannot waste this golden opportunity. It is not how long you have been in government, but how you use the opportunity to maximize impact on the lives of the people. Our people are mostly poor. The talakawas are our primary, political and ideological constituency. We have ideological, constitutional and institutional responsibility to liberate them out of poverty as we liberate them from tyrannical and corrupt leaders. The talakawas are the most oppressed Nigerians. They have been exploited, dominated, plundered, neglected and abandoned for decades and the change government of President Muhammadu Buhari is a historic opportunity to lift them out of poverty, educate them, and enlighten them and to empower them. This is part of my contribution to that vision.
What impact would you say the talakawa project you launched recently is having on your constituents?
I call it the Talakawa Grassroots Revolutionary Development Programme. It is a programme aimed at the political and ideological enlightenment of the people to know their political status and also the political and economic indices that stand as pillars of their own oppression. Secondly, it is an intervention in education. It is also an intervention in the area of health by addressing some basic health issues that challenge their existence as a people. It is also an intervention in the area of faith. I think this is the time we should all get involved in the issue of religion itself. If the state withdraws from moderate religious courses, we will simply create a vacuum for extremists to take over, mobilise and incite the people against the state. My intervention is a revolutionary intervention to mobilise the people.
Recently, the Emir of Kano calls for the devaluation of the naira and removal of subsidy. As the immediate past governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, people expect that he knows what he is talking about. But you are opposed to this call. Why is this so?
The Emir of Kano is an intelligent economist and has proven to be a man of impeccable character and vision. He is also a man who has spent most part of his life speaking out his mind. But he is a vendor of capitalism. His views are inimical to the economy of Nigeria. He is an apprentice of IMF and the World Bank policies that has emasculated Africa and has not led us out of poverty. We are not exporting anything apart from oil and no investor is coming in to invest in anything in Nigeria other than oil. Devaluing Nigerian currency will simply make it easier for those who have been in public offices and have amassed wealth in foreign currency to live comfortably within and outside Nigeria and to oppress us the more. You don’t have to make our national currency worthless in other to revamp our economy.
Many countries in Latin America and in Europe have taken this IMF prescription that has led them to nowhere. The economic experimentation that has grown the nations of China, Brazil and South Africa has to do with putting national economic issues first. In 2012, Sanusi supported the removal of subsidy and we were on the street protesting against it. While in office, he also has the opportunity to devalue the currency. We believe that devaluation of the currency and removal of subsidy is an invitation to chaos that will lead to a national upheaval against the Buhari administration. If you remove subsidy and devalue currency, you are simply going to spark off inflation and life will be most terrible and brutal to the common man and it will ignite a national uprising that will unsettle, if not subdue the Buhari administration. I think this advice is wrong and also coming at the wrong time and that is why we are opposed to it. With all due respect, he is a respectable person who has done a lot to save Nigeria and the Nigerian economy, but his views are out of touch with the realities of life outside his palace. People are finding it difficult to eat, feed their children, pay their rent and hospital bills. The mass of our people are without employment, many of our industries have closed down, we have inherited a debt ridden economy and the masses of our people must not continue to be guinea pigs for economic experimentations. The poor should not continuously be sacrificed for the wrong doing and mismanagement by government of the past.
Considering how Buhari came into office with support from some past leaders and some of those accused of corruption, do you think he has the moral standing to try those last leaders.
Politics is not a straight line and the tragedy of change is having to deal with the wastage which becomes part of our luggage to the destination which you have reached. When you are fighting to defeat an enemy, you need all the support and solidarity as well as all the backing to achieve that. At that time, you are blind to realities and the character and content of those backing you. By the time you are in the seat of power, you will now have to battle entrenched interests who were part of the forces that brought you to power.
Why Obasanjo was not able to spark off his reform from the early time has to do with the fact that in his earlier years in power, he has to please and appease those very forces who aided him into power. When you embark on such policy of pleasing and appeasing, you will sacrifice a legacy and your opportunity to perform, so, a leader has a choice either to side with the people and hurt entrenched interests or to appease entrenched interests and sacrifice performance and delivery and this is the challenge before the Muhammadu Buhari administration. If you have found yourself in power, and faced with the problem of paucity of foreign exchange, and then you have to deal with rice importers who were part of the contributors to the campaign, then, you will have your conscience to fight. In all sense of the word, entrenched interest has been the undoing of the government of the past and also a big challenge to President Muhammadu Buhari to break away from them and move Nigeria forward.
