As the war of words between Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El- Rufai and Senator Shehu Sani continues unabated, Abdulgafar Alabelewe in Kaduna reports that the quest for Kaduna State’s governorship seat is behind the battle
With the new twists to the feud between Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai and the Senator representing Kaduna Central in the upper legislative chamber, Senator Shehu Sani, the battle line may have been drawn between the duo, even though they are from the same party.
Before last few weeks, a lot of people thought the rift between them had been laid to rest, until El-Rufai spoke to newsmen in Lagos, saying Sani was criticising him to position himself to take over as the state governor in 2019, but that the Senator is not a threat to his political ambition.
Typical of an activist-turned politician, Sani wasted no time at firing back, as he took to his Facebook page with an idiomatic expression that, “Whoever throws a stone to a peaceful beehive should not expect a shower of flowers”, and through parable, Sani has in the last few weeks used every available medium to lash at El-Rufai.
The Nation observed that the crisis of ego between the duo predated their emergence as governor and senator respectively. Sani was not in the El-Rufai’s camp during the primary, just as the governor, then APC aspirant, also had his preferred candidate, the then incumbent, Senator Mohammed Sani Saleh, just like El-Rufai himself was the preferred candidate of President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, El-Rufai’s candidate lost to Sani. Also, the camps, including those of the governorship aspirants, became difficult to be united for the success of the party. The situation was only managed to the general election as APC won both the gubernatorial and senatorial seats, except that of Kaduna South, which was won by the PDP.
Soon after their victory, the sour relationship between El-Rufai and Sani became a common knowledge, especially when the senator started criticising his governor’s policies and programmes publicly.
Chief among the highly criticised policies of El-Rufai by Sani was the abolition of Ramadan and Sallah gifts, as well as Christmas largesse distributed to prominent persons and organisations by the PDP government, which El-Rufai had described as fraudulent, as he said resources meant for the development of the state and better life for the common people was being wasted on gifts to majority of people who could afford them.
But contrary to the said governor’s move to save the state’s resources for developmental projects, Sani went public to condemn the cancellation of the Ramadan and Sallah gifts and went further to revive it within his constituency. In fact, the Senator was then nicknamed, ‘Mai Rakumi’ at the event where he distributed rams, cows and camels to his constituents.
So, for every action taken by the El-Rufai’s administration, Senator Sani has a second opinion. For instance, during the land recovery exercise, where the state government was taking back public institutions’ lands from those who illegally built on them, Sani granted series of press interviews, condemning government’s action.
The senator went further to accuse El-Rufai of running the state in such a way that, “he will end up ruining all of us, which I will not be part of. He has taken some steps which have only attracted anger from the general public against him.
“He is a governor, I’m also a senator. He is not bigger than me, neither am I bigger than him. So, as far as I’m concerned, whether El-Rufai is a governor or whatever, anything which he does that does not tally with what is supposed to be done, I will certainly tell him,” he added.
Explaining further the basis for his anger, Sani added: “He (El-Rufai) is a technocrat, while I’m an activist and a revolutionary. So, my power base is the common people, the masses who constitute my strength. They are the people I have lived with and fought for over the years. The way the governor is running the affairs of government in Kaduna State is the one which, if care is not taken, we will all sink.
“He has to take consideration of the fact that he met people that were impoverished, that were muscled, harassed and demoralised by the government of the PDP. So, first of all, they don’t need harsh policies that will further impoverish and alienate them. We need to carry them along, taking cognisance of the situation which we find them in. I fundamentally differ with him on that issue.
“Kaduna is a place I have lived all my life and since I came out of prison in 1998, I have never been out of Kaduna for more than two weeks and I’ve never been appointed to any public office which I will live in Abuja and not know what is happening in Kaduna. So, I can tell you that within Kaduna North, Kaduna South and metropolis of Kaduna, there is hardly any street that I don’t know anybody,” Sani claimed.
El-Rufai in the recent interview said Senator Sani was only angry with him because, he (El-Rufai) didn’t consider the senator’s men for appointment as commissioners. He however claimed that, Sani’s men were not qualified to be part of his cabinet.
According to the governor, “Sani’s history is that of an activist, of some type and it is up to you to determine the adjective. He contested the APC primaries and defeated the candidate that I supported (General Sani Saleh), and after the primaries, I brought everyone together and said we all have to win this election. I got Saleh to support him, and we supported him fully.
“I think the problem is that because Shehu Sani’s mind is that of an activist, he thinks that the way to position himself, is through the media. He thinks politics is being in the media all the time. Activism is different from politics. Sometimes in politics, you don’t want your name in the media, but activists’ oxygen is the media, and he thinks that the way to remain visible and prepare him for running for governor of Kaduna State in 2019 is to criticise everything I do. Even if I breathe air, he will criticise it.
“I told my media team not to respond to him; we are a government of everybody, including Shehu Sani. Let the party apparatchik respond to him, let people in the streets respond to him, and I also told them to let’s work, let’s produce results because we will get to the point that nobody can come and criticise us.
“Because of the things he has been doing, criticising President Buhari, saying all sorts of things about me, the party disciplinary process was initiated against him, but he blames it on me. He thinks I engineered it. But frankly, I don’t care about Shehu Sani. I don’t think he is a threat to me politically or in any way. In 2018 when the whistle is blown, we will see who has support on the ground in Kaduna. It is not an issue that I bother about”, he said.
On the issue of appointments into his government, El-Rufai said “I can choose who to empower. I am the governor of the state, and I have to make appointments, and in making the appointments, I have to balance merit, loyalty and paying off other debts. I don’t owe Shehu Sani anything; he owes me. I asked all of them, including Shehu Sani, to give me names of people that I will appoint to positions, they gave me, and I looked at them, and none of the people from Shehu Sani’s list is good enough to be a commissioner in my cabinet.
“Shehu Sani’s first anger was that the list of commissioners came out and none from his list. In a state where there are about 10,000 PhDs that I have in my data base; I am not going to take a diploma holder and make him a commissioner just because he is Shehu Sani’s man. I don’t operate like that. When President Obasanjo called me and said he was going to make me a minister, I gave him a condition that ‘you don’t appoint members of my team, I will appoint my team,’ and that is the person that appointed me. If you have a difficult job, you have to appoint your own team.
“One of the commissioners we appointed has a PhD in Physics; he was a director in the Federal Civil Service. I never saw him until the day that I swore him in. We just looked at his CV, somebody brought it, and we appointed him based on his CV because there is a job to be done. Do I do this all the time? No! When we were appointing local government chairmen, I didn’t get involved. I said let us go and look at those who worked for us at the grassroots and appoint them local government chairmen and councillors.
“There are 225 councillors in Kaduna State, 23 local government chairmen; I did not appoint one. I left it to the party and our leaders. I said go and do it. But when they brought the list, I looked, and there was no woman; I said it is not possible, 23 chairmen and no woman? So, I looked, I saw one woman councillor in one local government, and I made her chairman! That was the only thing I did. I got two women to be local government chairmen! That was what I did.
“I did not appoint one person because they are not working directly with me. But the people that work directly with me, I must have confidence that they can deliver. However, many politicians don’t like this because the PDP system of distribution has become so ingrained that people feel entitled that once they help you win an election, you must give them commissioners’ slots or so. Even Obasanjo that made me Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) did not send me one person to work with me”, said El-Rufai.
Interventions and the hurdles ahead
With this war of words, the two party men became enemies who don’t see each other face to face. For any event organised by the state government, Senator Sani was always conspicuously absent without any representation or apology, until when Sani lost his mother. El-Rufai paid him a condolence visit, and many thought that was the end of the political war, until weeks after when they both refused to sheath their swords.
In the heat of the renewed attack, the party at the state level could not help but slam the senator with an 11 month suspension, a situation which dragged the National Vice Chairman of the APC in charge of North West, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, to wade into the crisis.
But rather than solve the problem, sources said Abdulkadir’s intervention compounded the crisis. At a peace meeting he called to resolve the crisis, only party stakeholders from Sani’s camp were in attendance, a situation which apparently got the Zonal Vice Chairman angry and overruled the Senator’s suspension by the local chapter of the party.
The local chapter of the APC, which had turned deaf ear to the Zonal Vice Chairman’s position went further to suspend Sani indefinitely after the expiration of the previous 11 months sanction. Since then, the Senator has not been participating in all the party affairs, but has remained critical of El-Rufai and his government.
Sen. Sani, just like other El-Rufai’s antagonists took a whip at the governor over his recently leaked memo to President Muhammadu Buhari, saying ‘El-Rufai hugs Buhari in the day time and stabs him at night”. The Senator also wasted no time at joining those who condemned El-Rufai for his alleged denigrating of the contributions of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his South-West base to the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 elections, saying the governor’s remarks on the APC stalwart was the height of ingratitude.
The senator, in a statement he made available to The Nation, countered El-Rufai, when he said the contributions of the former Lagos State Governor and the South-West to the victory of the APC in the last general elections, was unparalleled, arguing that, without Tinubu, the victory over the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would have remained a mere dream.
According to him, “The memo, written by Kaduna Governor which tends to belittle the contribution of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the South-West is sad and unfortunate. It is perfidious and the height of ingratitude. We must accept the stalk truth that without Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and the principled position of the South-West, dislodging Goodluck Jonathan and the then ruling PDP could have still remained a pipe dream, a hollow hope or a political mirage. El-Rufai defecated on a broom that is supposed to clean the littered floor of the nation.
“President Buhari is the heart of APC and Asiwaju is the lungs. Tinubu’s contribution to the success of the party is unequal. El-Rufai smiles with Tinubu in broad daylight and stings him at night. He hugs Tinubu with a chest of hooks and shakes him with toxic palms. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a man who built a castle for others to live and asked to appreciate the gift of a room in the boys’ quarters. Those who rubbished a hunter who borrowed them his arrow to disable an antelope will someday come back for same arrow to disable a lion.
“Tinubu honoured many official invitations to Kaduna, unknowingly; he was back-stabbed with an acidic memo. Tinubu has a history of being betrayed and has a history of overcoming betrayal. The future of the APC is with Buhari and the South-West. Without Buhari and the South-West, the change train will derail and end in smithereens like the fate of Yugoslavia or Soviet Union.
“President Buhari should be watchful of those who prey behind him and pray before him. Tinubu is an indispensable major component of change. My knowledge of Tinubu dates back to the NADECO days when we were in the trenches during the struggle against military dictatorship.
“El-Rufai should publicly apologise to Tinubu and the South-West for degrading their contribution to the liberation of Nigeria. To insult a man publicly and apologise to him privately is eat your cake and have it. Those heavily drinking from the liquor of power should know that they will later or lately have to drive back home,” he said.
The Senator had less than 24 hours before commenting on the governor’s memo when he received traders from a local market (Kasuwan Barci) in Kaduna, which is under the state government’s plan for demolition, saying APC may lose Kaduna State, “if El-Rufai continues with his ‘anti-people’ policies.” He said, the ‘anti-people’ policies of the APC’s administration in Kaduna State is sending people away, arguing that, many people now only have faith in Buhari not in the party any more.
According to the senator, “most programmes of government in the state are not in favour of the people and if it continues, APC will pay for it. The current administration’s policies are only designed to please some certain group of people in the state”.
He however urged the state government to shelve plan to demolish the market, famous for its textile and second hand clothing, saying demolishing such market with 4,800 shops at this time of hardship would spell doom for thousands of families.
Though, neither the governor nor his media handlers responded to Sani, the local APC in a swift reaction described the senator as a political ‘scavenger’ who feeds from the suffering of a common man. The party’s scribe, Salisu Tanko Wusono, urged the party supporters to ignore Sani, for “he is a reckless and disloyal senator that the APC has placed on indefinite suspension”.
Wusono added that, “The Kaduna State APC team is proud of the record of the APC state government. We are delighted that we have a government that is ready and able to take decisions, and a government that is willing to engage constructively with those who share its passion for progress.
“Whether it is roads or markets, the government has an obligation to improve them. As shown in Rigasa and Ungwan Dosa, to really improve roads means to dualise them. This means that some structures have to be removed to make this possible. Engagements between government and the residents of Rigasa and Ungwan Dosa have made it possible to arrive at mutual agreements on compensation and cooperation for the projects.
“Similarly, the government wishes to modernise markets where it is necessary to do so. Traders in Kasuwan Barci have written to government to express their views on why their market should be excluded at this time. The government has directed the relevant agencies to have stakeholder engagements with the traders on the matter. And we trust that once that directive is implemented, a positive solution will be agreed with the traders.
“The APC urges all its supporters to ignore scavengers like Shehu Sani, a reckless and disloyal senator that the APC has placed on indefinite suspension. Political scavengers treat the concerns of ordinary people as an opportunity to eat.
“When citizens struggle to find constructive paths to solve the challenges of life, he inserts himself into processes that are advanced. But he will not get what he wants. He will not be allowed to derail the legitimate wishes of the government and the traders of Kasuwan Barci for a better market”, he said.
But, a party chieftain and National Chairman of Buhari Like-Minds Movement of Nigeria, Hon. Ibrahim Bello Rigachikun, wants Governor El-Rufai and Senator Sani to reconcile their differences and forge a common ground in the interest of the party ahead of the 2019 General Elections, and he is hopeful that the crisis will become a thing of the past.
Rigachikun opined that the feud is not a war but a campaign of violence, as each of Governor El-Rufai and Senator Shehu Sani is only protecting his political structure.
According to Rigachikun, “I believe the leadership of the party in the state which could not comply with the manifesto and constitution of the APC is partly to blame. For instance, the party constitution makes it clear that when a seat is vacant, filling same should not be automatic but that election should hold. The Deputy Governor of Kaduna State was the Chairman of the APC in the State, and he became the Deputy Governor. The Secretary of the party became a Commissioner and is now the Chief of Staff to the Governor. So, the flagrant disobedience of the laid procedures by the party became a huge challenge at the onset.
“So, if there had been reconciliation with those seats legitimately filled, I do not think these problems would arise today. We, the stakeholders have shown concern by drawing the attention of the party leadership in the state to what is happening because if things continue this way, we may have problems in 2019.
“Whether we like it or not, we need the cooperation of the governor, and that of the senator for they both have their strength. I must say that I am convinced that sooner than later, the two would reconcile their differences in the interest of the party. Has there been any conscientious effort by stakeholders to bring the two together? It has been quite difficult to bring them together because the leadership of the party at the state level is not strong enough. The party leadership has not been able to broker the peace largely because of this.
“It would be very heartwarming if they can sheathe their swords to keep the peace. This is a crisis that ought to have been over two or three months after the elections, but here we are. Like I said, it is time to put their differences aside, and those who can call the senator and the governor to order should please do so now. But politically, some people are quite happy that the two men are fighting each other because that in itself is a source of food for them. Do not forget that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
“It is rather unfortunate that people like us are no longer seen as relevant because we should have waded in to settle this matter a long time ago. The only option is reconciliation but as things stand today, the opposition is very happy with what is happening to us, and they are praying for peace to elude us from now till 2019 when another round of elections would take place.
“A lot of people love our party in Kaduna State, and it is very unfortunate that this is happening today. We expect these two highly respected men to reconcile their differences especially since elections are over”, he said.
If the INEC timetable for the 2019 General Elections is anything to go by, it is already less than two years to the polls. The question however is that, can the two party bigwigs who have engaged in battle of supremacy for two years reconcile overnight? If the common political saying that, ‘there is no permanent friend or permanent enemy, but permanent interest’ plays out, good for both of them. The fear is that, if that doesn’t play out, opposition party will certainly take that advantage and give APC a run for its money.
Looking at the body language and Senator Sani’s constant engagement with those having one issue or the other with El-Rufai, one would be quick to conclude that, he is really determined to slug the governorship seat with El-Rufai in 2019. Aside several interventions he has made within his constituency, observers said some Hausa singers have recorded tracks already addressing the Senator as Kaduna Governor by 2019.
But considering that, all the 11 APC lawmakers in House of Representatives from the state, as well all the 28 APC lawmakers in the Kaduna State House of Assembly are loyal to El-Rufai’s leadership, the battle promises to be tough for the activist Senator. In fact, if the state party structure remains as it is in the hands of Governor El-Rufai, Shehu Sani’s alleged gubernatorial ambition will not only meet a brick wall, retaining his present seat in the Senate will also be more difficult than a camel passing through the eye of a needle, except if the Senator decamps to another party to pick a ticket.
