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Sani: Reconciliation is last hope for APC

Senator Sheu Sani, who is representing Kaduna Central District in the Senate, spoke with Tony Akowe in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the challenge of reconciliation in the All Progressives Congress (APC). Excerpts:

What is your view on the committee recently set up by the President to reconcile members of the party?

First, let me say that I am here at the national secretariat of the APC for two reasons. First is to personally express my support and solidarity to the effort of the president in setting up a reconciliation committee headed by Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu. We are confident that his intervention could most likely address the fundamental issues that are facing the party at both the national and at the state level. It is no more news that the APC is faced with crisis in some states where it holds sway as a party and this crisis has defiled solutions for over two years and efforts that were made in the past has not been able to address the problems. Nobody could have solved this problem other than President Muhammadu Buhari himself through Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The governors cannot solve the problems of the APC because they are party to the crisis; APC Senators and members of the House of Representatives cannot solve the problem because they are party to the problem. The party at the national level cannot solve the problem because there is disrespect and disregard for the leadership of the party in the last two years. The very fact that the party itself has been inhibited with lack of funds and other challenges made it impossible for the party to bring to order what is happening. What we need to understand very clearly is that crisis within a ruling party is not new and not strange. Each time you have a group of people who organise themselves and take over political power, you are bound to have internal crisis within the party. It is so in the National Liberation Front in Algeria, it is so with the African National Congress, it is so in any political party you can think of in history that has taken over power. The APC crisis started earlier and hopefully, it will be healed in other to prevent it from inflicting some damages that could affect the fortunes of the party.

Are you worried that the party that came into power with so much goodwill is today engulfed in a crisis that is threatening its very foundation?

It is of concern that a party that came to power with so much good will and hope has found itself in a civil war with itself. Right now, the APC is both the government and the opposition because most of the criticism and opposition that is going on in the country is within the APC itself. So, one tragedy that usually become the symptom that extinguishes a political party is absence of internal democracy. You can see the supremacy of the party in South Africa and in Ethiopia. But in Nigeria, there is no supremacy of the party because people holding position of executive power think that the party should be under them and not them being below the party. That is where the crisis starts. If the state chairman of a political party can go and kneel down before a state governor for money to pay the rent of his office and feed his family, political parties in the Nigeria setting seems to be parastatals of the state government and that is totally unacceptable. There is also the syndrome of the party is our own. If a clique of people believe that they founded the party and other people are strangers, then the recipe for crisis has been set. What we need to understand is the very fact that PDP was not destroyed from the outside, but from the inside. It is the elements within the PDP that were marginalized and oppressed that became the final nail on the coffin of her party. If the APC must learn anything, it must learn from the history and I believe that some of the people who left the PDP to join in this merger should not come with that bug and bacteria because those fundamental issues need to be addressed. If all party members are not treated equally and fairly, certainly there will be problem.

Few days after the President set up the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led committee to reconcile members, a parallel secretariat was set up in Kaduna. Can you explain why this is so?

You are right that in Kaduna State today, we are having a problem and there are two APC secretariats. There is the one which the governor set up for himself and serves as his personal convenience where he can do whatever he wants to do and we also have our own APC secretariat, so, we have twins APC in Kaduna. Our own is the genuine one because the chairman of the party that was duly certified and elected and recognised by INEC was not the one the governor is dealing with. So, as far as we are concerned, we are here to tell the national secretariat that Senator Shehu Sani, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi and other party stalwarts in Kaduna will not accept, tolerate, endorse any form of tyranny by the governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai. He has pocketed the party and wants to impose his will and is exploiting his proximity to the President to unleash a rain of terror on the party. Right now, the party is already divided in Kaduna and it is for the national secretariat to note this and we have said it in clear terms. The problem has defiled solution for two years, but we believe that we believe that Asiwaju can do a lot of reconciliation and we hope that he will be able to achieve a lot because if Asiwaju fails, it is going to be doom for the party. When you see people fighting within the party, it is because they want to remain in the party. If they don’t want to remain within the party, the will simply walk away from the party. So, we are saying in the 21st century Nigeria, there are those of us in the APC that will not accept any governor going into a room to write the list of his concubines, friends, his errand boys and guides and send them as executive of the party. We are going to remain in the APC and pursue this agenda and my presence here at the APC is to send a clear message appreciating Tinubu’s appointment and so to tell them that it is in the best interest of the party that they don’t take sides or the most they can do is to give us equal treatment as far as Kaduna is concerned.

Is it possible to see the parallel executive in Kaduna State happening at the national level?

I don’t know anything about national level, but I can tell you that as far as Kaduna is concerned, we have parallel APC and it is left for Asiwaju to build the bridges. Lagos is known for bridges. So, we hope that there will be seventh mainland bridge to connect the divide. But we are not sure of that.

What is your take on Buhari contesting the 2019 presidential election?

One thing which Nigerians have refused to recognize is that people have the right to say they want the President to contest or not and he a³so has the right to accept what they are saying or reject it. As far as I am concerned, any opinion on whether he should contest or not is simply an exercise of freedom of speech and it is left for him to decide. However, in every sense of the word, he is constitutionally empowered to decide on whether he wants to contest or not. But I think it is in the interest of the country and in the interest of the party that President Buhari makes his position known because right now, it has been his Aides that are speaking on his behalf. Whether they are doing it with his consent or not, no Nigerian for now knows whether President Buhari will contest or not.

We have seen a lot of Shehu Sani for governor posters in Kaduna. Are you contesting for governor in 2019?

Well, in politics, there are things you want and there could be decision later of what may be or may not be. In the process where reconciliation is taking place now, I think it is in our interest to put our ambitions in our pockets for now in accordance with the plea of Mr. President and wait for Asiwaju to address the problems. It is going to be a tragedy, if he fails. This is what I know and I can speak in parables. The pronouncement of the appointment of Asiwaju to reconcile members has been able to avert the tragedy of people decamping from the APC to the other parties. It has been able to do so at least for now.

Few months to election, the National Assembly wants to reorder elections and this is generating a lot of heat in the polity. What was really wrong in INEC deciding that the presidential election holds first.

You see, there is an impression in the National Assembly which people have from outside and that is the presence of pro Buhari senators and anti Buhari senators. I don’t think that is true. Nobody was elected to be there and be pro or anti. We are all senators and in issues, we vote and decide on what our positions should be or can be. Having said that, let me say that the reordering of the sequence of election was informed by a number of factors. One is that the hitherto position as it is right now where you start with the President and end up with the states is one in which you have the bandwagon effect. The smaller parties felt that each time you have a presidential election and the president wins, nobody other party will win any seat again because it have bandwagon effect. What we are saying now is that let us have the Presidential election last so that Nigerians have the opportunity to vote for Senators and members of the House of Representatives on their own merit. They should be able to reelect those they want and vote out those they don’t want. The reason is very simple. We are trying to avoid mass trial, mass conviction and mass burial of Senators and Members of the House of Representatives. By that, we will allow each member go to his grave or be acquitted before justice electorates.

You were at the JAMB office with anti-snake venom and some people have said that you went there as a sign of mockery for your party. How true is that?

My presence in the JAMB office was on a rescue mission to avoid more snakes eating more money. If you have a story where snakes have consumed N36 million, that is very shocking and in order to prevent more money being eaten by snakes, I brought two things to them. Anti snake repellants and snake charmers from my constituency. It is my own personal contribution to the fight against animal based kind of corruption. Again, if this is a drama, it need to be finished and what I did was to finish the last aspect of the drama.

You said the Kaduna State governor is using his closeness to the President to do what he does in Kaduna. Do you see that affecting the President in 2019?

He has been constantly bombarding us by dropping the name of the President in every thing he does. He keep telling us the President said I should do this, the President said I should do that and the President has come to Kaduna over 12 times and has never said anything to us. We are only hearing it from him and we are saying that we have been with the President from the onset and not him that is a convertee to being a supporter of the President. We cannot in any way be treated like outcast because you have access to the President. So, we said that we are equal stakeholders in this party and the President has any message for us about Nasir El-Rufai, he should talk to us and not to hear it through el-Rufai because I knew the President before el-Rufai knew him. I have been respecting the President before him and even when he was saying the President was too old to contest, I never believed it. So, if this party will continue to be one and succeed in the next election, we must have a level playing ground. Senators and Governors must live in peace with each other’s. We must address the problems of the state and whatever resolution that is reached by this committee must be endorsed by all interested parties. For now, in Kaduna, I can tell you clearly that we are having two parallel executive of the party and any attempt by anybody to recognize the faction of the governor is going to spell a lot of trouble because we will not agree. I am here to say that clearly and I have told the people at the secretariat. Any attempt to tint toward the governor, we will oppose it to the last.

February 22, 2018
Nigeria must borrow responsibly – Shehu Sani

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Sen. Shehu Sani, says if Nigeria must borrow, it must borrow responsibly.

Sani gave the advice in a meeting with the Ministers of Transportation; Finance; Budget and National Planning and Power, Works and Housing on Thursday in Abuja.

The meeting was in connection with President Muhammadu Buhari’s loan request of 5.5 billion dollars.

Sani said: “the committee has the mandate to examine the merits and otherwise of the current loan request of 5.5 billion dollars of the president.

“If we must bequeath to the future generation a pile of debt, it must be justified with commensurate infrastructural proof of the value of the debt.

“The payment plan of this debt will undoubtedly last the length of our lifetimes and possibly beyond.

“We must leave behind a legacy that will appease and answer the questions the next generation of Nigerians will ask,” Sani said.

In his submission, Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, said that the central rail line project connecting several communities of northern and southern Nigeria would be completed in June, next year.

According to him, 17 coaches are expected to arrive in November and out of the number, 10 will be deployed to Abuja-Kaduna rail line while the remaining seven will be deployed to the Itakpe-Warri rail line.

Amaechi said that part of the money being requested now for approval by the senate was to execute the rail projects covering Kano-Kaduna, and Lagos-Ibadan networks.

He informed the senators that Buhari’s directive was that all the 36 state capitals of Nigeria must be connected by the ongoing rail projects.

Also providing insight into the loan request, the Director-General, Debt Management Office, Mrs Patience Oniha, explained that the loans have sustainable benefits that would live beyond the present generation of Nigerians.

“What we should take away is that we are going into projects whose benefits don’t go away.

“The roads don’t go away, the schools don’t go away, and the hospitals don’t go away but all that we need to do is to maintain them properly and that is the explanation I want to make on that,” she said. (NAN)

October 20, 2017
Endorsement of El-Rufai a charade, says Sani

The senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, yesterday faulted the reported endorsement of Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai for a second term by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Sani, who chairs the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, described the endorsement as a charade that cannot stand.

The lawmaker said El-Rufai gathered his employees, aides and hangers-on to actualise his endorsement for second term.

He alleged that because the chances of El-Rufai becoming vice-president, which he was aiming for while President Muhammadu Buhari was away on medical treatment, had failed with the return of the President, the Kaduna governor had taken up another project for Buhari.

He said El-Rufai’s name dropping and mobilisation for President Buhari for 2019 was self-serving, adding that his loyalty to the President is questionable.

Sani said: “The so-called endorsement of Governor El-Rufai by Kaduna APC amounts to endorsement of toxic waste.

“El-Rufai simply gathered his employees, aides and hangers-on to endorse him.

“He is a poisonous viper corrosive to the integrity and moral standing of the party in the state and the nation.

“El-Rufai’s name dropping and mobilisation for Buhari 2019 is self-serving. His loyalty to Buhari is for political relevance and his allegiance to Buhari is for self-protection and preservation.

“Now that President Buhari is back from health vacation and the chances of becoming a vice-president is zero, El-Rufai has taken up a new project for Buhari 2019.

“El-Rufai’s obsession with Buhari is not about Buhari, but about himself. Buhari should protect his testicles from a man who always bends close to his knees.

“Those who endorsed El-Rufai are marketing a bottled fart. A man who boasts of sending Yar’Adua to his grave should not be trusted by Buhari. The snake that killed the hunter can kill the charmer.”

September 20, 2017
Sani advises Buhari to purge cabinet of hyenas, jackals

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari got a piece of advice from an unusual quarter yesterday. Senator Shehu Sani urged him to immediately purge his cabinet of hyenas, jackals and wolves.

Sani, representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, said the cleansing was necessary as part of efforts by the President to move the country forward.

Yesterday’s advice came almost two months after the activist-turned politician drew attention to the scheming of hyenas, jackals and wolves on the corridor of power when the President was away to London on medical vacation.

The July 6 post on Sani’s Facebook page got a response from the President’s wife, Mrs. Aisha Buhari four days later.

Sani wrote on his Facebook page: “Prayer for the absent Lion King has waned; until he’s back then, they will fall over each other to be on the front row of the palace temple.

“Now the hyenas and the jackals are scheming and talking to each other in whispers; still doubting whether the Lion King will be back or not.

“Now the Lion King is asleep and no one dare to confirm if he will wake up or not. It’s the wish of the hyenas that the Lion King never wakes or comes back so that they can be kings.

“It’s the prayers of the weaker animals that the Lion King comes back to save the Kingdom from the hyenas, the wolves and other predators.”

The senator used the animal imagery obviously in reference to those scheming to become president in 2019, crisscrossing the country to take advantage of the President’s absence.

Some people in political positions were also believed to be undermining the system to position themselves in the President’s absence.

In her response to the senator’s post, Mrs. Buhari on her Facebook page on July 10, also expressed herself in a figurative manner, using the animal imagery like Sani did.

She wrote: “God has answered the prayers of the weaker animals. The hyenas and the jackals will soon be sent out of the kingdom. We strongly believe in the prayers and support of the weaker animals.

“Long live the weaker animals. Long live Nigeria.”

The Director of Press in Mrs Buhari’s Office, Mr. Suleiman Haruna, confirmed that the post was on the president’s wife’s “verified Facebook page”.

As at 10pm on July 10, about 257 people had made comments on the post, most of which were wishing the President quick recovery.

The President returned from his medical vacation after 103 days on August 19.

Not a few Nigerians expected a cabinet rejig immediately the President resumed duty on August 21. But nothing of such happened as he chaired the first Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja last Wednesday.

Sani said the President would be disinfecting and fumigating the Presidency by tinkering with his cabinet; the membership of which he claimed, was suffering mid-term fatigue.

Senator Sani, who described the Hyenas, Jackals and wolves as elements within the cycle of presidency, said they have personal interests other than that of Mr. President.

During a chat with reporters yesterday, the senator said the need for the President to overhaul his cabinet now more than ever before could not be over-emphasised.

Sani, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, described the elements as “the mafias” (power brokers) within the Presidency, whose intents are different from that of the President himself but they are part of what is called presidency.

He said: “One thing the President needs to do which is very important is a need for him to take a proactive stand in order to reset his Presidency by looking at his cabinet in totality.

“Those who have failed should be shown the way out and those who have not been able to perform satisfactorily should be replaced or reshuffled.

“But, it is time for Mr. President to throw some people out of his cabinet and change the portfolio of some of them so they can help him to perform better. There is mid-term fatigue that exists and the only way out is to bring in capable hands.

“If the first appointment into office was to appease the political interest, I think the President now should appoint those who are capable of delivering the mission, the vision and the programme of his own administration.”

The senator, who is also the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) in Nigeria President said: “There is a message I’m sending to Mr. President to fumigate and disinfect presidency in the general interest of his own government and also the country as a whole.”

September 4, 2017
Sani: why the cry is loudest

Senator Shehu Sani(Kaduna Central)said yesterday that the call for restructuring is being fueled by the vocal segments of the political elite, who have lost or are losing out in the political power game.

The vocal senator added that what he said should not be construed to mean that he endorsed the present socio-economic and politico-legal framework underpinnings the management of the public space.

He spoke in a lecture he delivered at the weekend on the “Imperatives of Sustaining One Nigeria” at the 5th Annual Parliamentary Lecture of the National Association of Oyo Students.

Sani, who is the chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts and Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, traced the clamour from a section of the populace in Southeast calling for the creation of the sovereign state of Biafra, the call by the Southsouth, especially the oil producing region of the Niger Delta, for greater resource control, fiscal federalism and a northern group issuing a quit notice to another ethnic group.

He added that from some top political elite, former top brass of the military and others came strident calls for restructuring.

The senator declared that it would appear that the indissolubility as well as the sovereignty of the state over the entity and political contraption called Nigeria is being questioned and challenged by some of its own citizens.

The development, he said, gives the impression that the state was under siege.

He recognised that the call to tinker with the country’s structure would not be the first time that Nigerians are calling for.

He noted that after the amalgamation of 1914, Nigerians continued to clamour for improvements in the overarching socio-political and legal framework on the basis of which pre-colonial governance was predicated.

He listed the 1922 Clifford Constitution, the Arthur Richards Constitution of 1946, the John McPherson Constitution of 1951 and the Lyttelton Constitution of 1954 and the Independence and Republican Constitutions of 1960 and 1963.

Clearly, he said, political independence was not accompanied by political and administrative machineries capable of dealing with the diverse concerns of the over 300 ethnic nationalities in the country.

The Civil War, he added, signposted not just inter-ethnic intransigencies but the structural dysfunctions of the socio-economic system.

He posited that the agitations, particularly the recent calls for restructuring, must be placed in proper context and addressed in a manner that strips the narrative of both primordial sentiments as well as the self-serving interests of the political elite.

July 5, 2017
El-Rufai v Sani: Hurdles ahead Kaduna 2019 governorship race

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.

April 23, 2017
Shehu Sani to APC: Punish El-Rufai for memo on Buhari

Senator Shehu Sani has urged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to penalise Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State for allegedly leaking to reporters a memo he wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Sani, who is the Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, called for the punitive measures in a statement in Abuja yesterday in reaction to the alleged leakage.
Media reports had alleged that El-Rufai told Buhari in a memo, that he was losing the vision and the momentum with which APC started the change campaign.
The governor was alleged to have called on the President to communicate constantly with Nigerians, so they would know the plans of his government.
The reports also claimed that El-Rufai acknowledged that a cabal was working hard to alienate the President from those, who even worked hard to secure his victory during the 2015 election.
Sani said it was ironic that while El-Rufai could not stand constructive criticism, he had the audacity to criticise the President.
“The governor always recommends that our party should punish me for criticising him. Now that he has fired a cruise missile at the President through a deliberately leaked memo, he should also be treated the same way.
“He accused me of being disloyal and disrespectful to the President and the party for speaking my mind.
“Now he has done his own cunningly by criticising the President and the party, disguised it as a memo and leaked it out to the press.
“If our able party chair would give me five strokes of the cane for speaking out, the governor (El Rufai) should be given thrice that for ‘leaking out’.
“It’s often said that look at the message and not the messenger, but there are times when you can only decipher the message by looking at the messenger,’’ he said.
According to Sani, while El-Rufai is entitled to his opinion and perception, the contradiction and irony is that he carried out an action he always stood against when criticised.
He described the governor as disloyal and disrespectful, saying: “the difference is that while mine is blunt, his is dubious.
“Secondly, for all the issues he raised against the President, his own is worst in his space of governance both in the existence of cabal or politics of exclusion, incompetence or public perception.
“The difference is that the President is tolerant of criticisms and alternative views.’’
He said the leakage of the memo to newsmen was an evidence that ‘‘logically he is leaking memo to rouse popular sympathy and create the image of ‘a competent alternative’ to ‘Baba.’
“The memo suggests he is trying to do what he recently accused me of.
“He said that I am in the habit of criticising him because I want to become Kaduna State Governor,’’ Sani said.
He advised President Buhari to be cautious, saying: “he who keeps a scorpion in his pocket must always watch his groin and he who inherits a cobra should know that it’s not a pet.’’

March 19, 2017
Tourism can replace oil as major foreign exchange earner, says Sani

The senator representing Kaduna Central Shehu Sani has advised the Federal Government to develop the tourism sector in its efforts to diversify the economy.

He said since the earnings from oil had reduced, the growth of tourism deserves better attention as a viable alternative for foreign exchange earnings.

Sani spoke at the weekend when he visited the slave port in Badagry, Lagos State.

He said: “From what I have seen in Badagry, if we are able to develop the relics of slavery and other historical sites in this town, Nigeria will be competing with other countries that get most of their foreign exchange earnings from tourism.

“The Federal Government should fund this project to earn more foreign exchange and attract more visitors coming to Nigeria. It is beyond Lagos State. The people of Badagry deserve the Federal Government’s support in keeping the relics of slavery.”

He hailed them for being able to preserve the relics and history of slavery.

He said: “As a senator, I am working on a Bill that is called “Historic Sites Protection and Preservation Bill”. It is a bill that is aimed at drawing the attention of the Federal Government to the need to protect and preserve historic places that have formed part of Nigeria’s memory and history. I am working on this bill and it is about to be read the second time in the National Assembly.

“My visit to the slave port here (Badagry) is in that very process. And since I have gone round, I have seen a number of things. I have seen treasures of our history, I have seen treasure of our memory, I have seen well-preserved artefacts, documents and facts that form the component of where we came from and where we are today.”

March 13, 2017
How anti-graft battle can succeed, by Sani

Senator Shehu Sani represents Kaduna Central District. A student of the late Malam Aminu Kano school of thought, he spoke with KOLADE ADEYEMI, shortly after visiting the Malam Aminu Kano museum and the Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Studies, Kano, the Kano State capital, on President Muhammadu Buhari’s health, the anti-corruption war and other issues.

What message do you have for our leaders after touring the late Malam Aminu Kano museum in the ancient city of Kano?
Well, the first time I came here was with my father, when the late Malam Aminu Kano was alive. At time, my father was working with The New Nigeria Newspapers and I am visiting this house because this visit is progressives and spiritual in nature to see the frozen history of one of Nigeria’s greatest revolutionaries, progressives and nationalist. Malam Aminu Kano represented the politics of ideology and politics of principles and he was one leader that lived an exemplary life, prudence and transparency of honour and integrity and of sincerity. My visit here is to reappraise the state of the museum and also meet the directors and officials of this museum and to see how I can personally contribute to the enhancement of the museum itself. I am highly impressed by the level of care and attention given to most of these artifact, the historic artifact of history the late Malam Aminu Kano left behind. With the prevailing scenario in the country, politics has lost its substance. And a fundamental problem with our democratic setting is the fact that our politics is not run on the wheel of principles and ideology. Political parties in Nigeria are virtually lacking in ideology and that brought about the confusion in the democratic process and political engineering in the country. It is quite unfortunate that the present generation of Nigerian political elite are more interested in pursuing power and realizing personal political ambition, as well as engaging in primitive accumulation of wealth for themselves. The landscape is supposed to be divided between conservative, reactionary on one side and also progressive revolutionaries on the other side. But it has been blurred over the years, as you don’t know who is a progressive and who is a conservative. And one problem we are facing today is the fact politics are pursed to realize personal goal or to achieve a certain vendetta against other person or as a platform or vehicle to amass wealth or to pursue narrow ethnic and religious or sectional agenda or to destroy, extinguish and emasculate the people, who do not share your own beliefs, ideologies or ethnic or religious identity or affiliation.
What was the consequences?
The deviation of politics of principles and ideology created a new confused atmosphere whereby we are more or less pursuing goal of building a new nation, without actually knowing what that nation would be about. Aminu Kano’s life should be a noble example to most public office holders but unfortunately, it is not. Some of the very few people, who share the ideals and vision is people like Balarabe Musa and perhaps people like Buhari.
How would you assess the Buhari administration?
Buhari is an Island in his government and by the time he is back, he needs to disinfect and fumigate his government because in his anti-corruption crusade, he is the only person who believes in anti-corruption war, people within his corridor of power are simply Buhari in their faces, but anti-Buhari at heart. Now, tell me, how a President (Buhari) who publicly declared his own assets; and apart from him and his Vice-President, nobody, even within his own close kitchen cabinet or outside veranda cabinet could publicly declare their assets. This shows the disbelief in the style of his own life and his own manner of leadership. And you can see the very spartern and prudent life Malam Aminu Kano has left behind, and could have served as a beckon to which we will find a new and transparent Nigeria. You should also understand it very well that achieving an absolutely corrupt-free society is theoretical illusion, but it is also a developmental necessity. We cannot achieve one hundred percent corrupt-free society, but our struggle to achieve it will be a continuous process. Nigerian politicians have since abandoned the prudent way of Malam Aminu Kano and the honesty of Sarduana of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello. They have since abandoned the focus of these great leaders. What is matter to the is how they can build political empire and then also use it as a launching pad to build a business empire. They are not entrusted in freeing the masses from poverty. They are simply interested in leveraging themselves to stupendous position of wealth.
We live in a country whereby people in the position of power cannot create jobs for children of the poor; while there are reserved positions for children of the rich in Federal Civil service. This is what have become of this country today. If we are to build a new democratic, transparent and corrupt-free society, we must start by public office holders. We must begin to lay clear examples because we cannot have governors, rich senators, rich members of House of Representatives, rich ministers who have simply become rich because they are in public office and for you to expect any fundamental change in the way and manner Nigeria is today, we must act fast because Nigerians were corrupted by the leaders, not that Nigerians corrupted the leaders. Indeed, it is the leaders that corrupted our people.
How would you rate Nigeria’s economy?
In a very society where billions of dollars have been amassed for a period of over four decades, Nigerians are supposed not to be suffering from poverty. Nigeria’s wealth was shared among the political class, the private sector, the former military rulers and also foreign multi-nationals. And we must say it very clearly that despite the diversification agenda of this administration, Nigeria’s economy is still in the hands of foreign interest in concert with their local representatives. Our tele-communication sector is dominated by foreigners, our construction sector is dominated by foreigners, our banking sector is still aligned with foreign interest and our insurance and shipping sector is all aligned with foreign interest. So, Nigeria is still an imperialist output representing the interest of western capital and also pursuing interest that is antagonistic to that of the common people.
What do you think should be done to remedy the situation?
Nigerian progressives need to free themselves from the confliction that is in this era whereby the progressive forces have been silenced by the activities of the reactionary conservative forces. And the ultimate change in Nigeria is only, if possible, when you have a clear-cut ideology which you are going to pursue as a country. President Muhammadu Buhari is the last man standing and a species of Nigerians who believe in integrity and honesty, but he is a man surrounded by Hyenas and vultures and lice. Most of the vultures hovering over Nigeria, watching over our famished bones and famished faces and they are also Hyenas because they are opportunistic in nature, taking advantage of their position of power to devour the poor and devour the national treasury. So, President Muhammadu Buhari is an honest man, but leading an army of dishonest people who are very close to him. So, I call in that very word that we need to pray for Mr. President., we need to support Mr. President and those who are peddling lies about his health and the incapacity to rule are not distant enemies, but close ones who wants to be Vice President in Nigeria. They are people who wants to take over position of power; and Buhari will come back to Nigeria, and he will continue the mission which he has started—Buhari is a God’s gift to this country, he is a priceless gift to rescue Nigeria from a drift. He is the oxygen for a nation almost suffocating. Buhari should be seen as a liberator of this country. He is also a builder. Malam Aminu Kano of blessed memory is a man whose ideology and ideals should shape the politics of principles and ideology. Ii am one of those that were inspired by his kind of politics and his kind of history. We are revolutionary and we are the progressives.
Our political thinking is on the left-hand side of the divide; and we are also in open confrontation with the reactionary forces who are determined to bring this country down and who have also been working against our progressive match to the future.

March 1, 2017
El-Rufai/Sani feud tears Kaduna APC apart

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central District) are locked in a supremacy tussle. The fight is over who controls the soul of the party, ahead of the 2019 general elections. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the issues that must be addressed for peace to prevail in the troubled All Progressives Congress (APC) chapter.

The rivalry between Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) has polarised the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. Analysts believe the face-off between the two APC chieftains is a fall out of the crisis engendered by the 2015 governorship primary. Both El-Rufai and Sani had governorship ambitions, but Sani was pressurised to step down for the incumbent governor against his will. Since El-Rufai took over the reins of power, Sani has been critical of his administration, despite the fact that both of them belong to the same party. Pundits say the crisis has to do with ego.

Analysts say the current crisis is being fuelled by the winners take-it all policy of Governor El-Rufai. For instance, the governor was alleged to have considered only members of his group for political appointments. They say even party offices that became vacant as a result of political appointments were arbitrarily filled by the governor without conducting election as required by the APC Constitution. Other stakeholders sidelined are also crying for justice for peace to reign.

Sani confirmed the genesis of the crisis. He said: “I never intended to contest for the Senate; I wanted to contest for the governorship and I opened offices in Zaria, Kaduna and Kafanchan, and later there was pressure on me that I should step down. Politicians came to meet me that I should step down and allow El-Rufai to contest, because they said he was the favourite of the president.

“I pulled back and said I wanted to contest for the Senate, but there was a sitting senator, General Saleh and I had to evict him during the primary election. I told them in black and white that I didn’t have money to give any delegate, and if they feel okay with my principles, then let them vote for me, but if my principles are not right for them, let them go and vote for the same person that was occupying the seat. They voted for me and I removed an incumbent senator. So, I didn’t contest against a vacuum.”

Sani, a social crusader before entering politics, explained that when he got the Senate ticket, there were two major candidates in the Kaduna governorship race, El-Rufai and Isa Ashiru. According to Sani, the two of them had senatorial aspirants that contested the primary against me. He added: “El-Rufai supported General Saleh, while Ashiru was behind Sani Suleiman.

“I did not have the backing of any of the governorship candidates, but I thrashed the candidates of both El-Rufai and Ashiru. The El-Rufai that won the governorship ticket in Kaduna won it with 1,000 votes and I won one senatorial zone with 920 votes. If I had contested the governorship primary, there was no way I wouldn’t have emerged; it’s not possible. So, I sacrificed that and I contested the Senate and I won.”

But, a chieftain of the APC in the state who spoke on condition of anonymity dismissed Sani’s claims of being pressurised to step down for El-Rufai. He said President Muhammadu Buhari did not influence the governorship primary in any way. If El-Rufai is close to Buhari, you can’t fault him for that. Sani too is closer to some political big wigs. What I am saying is that Buhari didn’t win the ticket for him. I think the senator should desist from dragging President Buhari into his personal problem with El-Rufai.

He added: “If Sani was sure of winning the primary, why did he withdraw and settle for the Senate seat? I think the senator should forget about his bitterness over the 2015 governorship ticket and join hands with the governor in his efforts to develop the state. Sani is carrying his bitterness too far. His open criticism of El-Rufai’s government has been extended to the APC-controlled Federal Government. He plays the role of the opposition leader in the Senate. You can disagree within the party on any issue, but not outside; that is the hallmark of collective responsibility in democracy. Sani’s utterances have portrayed the APC as a party without discipline. He is not attacking Buhari and El-Rufai, but the APC; the platform on which he was elected to the Senate.”

But, Sani insisted he didn’t withdraw from the governorship race for fear of defeat. He said: “El-Rufai defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP. He came to the APC with their destructive tendencies. His ideas are in conflict with our party’s manifesto. He has also crippled the APC in Kaduna. Those who follow him are not people of honour.

“He can’t intimidate me, because I was elected by the masses of this state, but he gave money to scale through the party primary. He waited for President Buhari to raise his hand for people of Kaduna State. That can’t happen again. The days of President Buhari’s grace is gone. Kaduna voters will vote with their eyes wide open, according to individual performance.

“Whoever thinks he can silence me does not know my history. I have fought for democracy for over 30 years. El-Rufai has no capacity to confront me. And his men cannot suspend me from the party. How can a tenant sack his landlord?”

The crisis reached a crescendo when Sani was suspended from the APC in January 2016 by his Tudun Wada ward constituency. The ward executive said it took the action to suspend the senator, because he had made statements that allegedly violate the rules of engagement of the party, factionalised the party, and allegedly engaged in anti-party activities by criticising openly the policies of Governor El-Rufai. It noted that “hardly a week passes that Sani’s group would not be on air criticising and challenging the enduring legacies of Malam El-Rufai; that his statement on national issues is not in conformity with that of the Federal and Kaduna State governments.”

The suspension had since expired on Friday, December 2, 2016. But, to the consternation of Sani’s supporters, he was again slammed an indefinite suspension. Curiously, on that day, some youths allegedly sponsored by El-Rufai’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Malam Uba Sani, attacked Sani’s family house in Tudun Wada. The following day, Sani’s constituency office was again attacked by those suspected to be loyalists of the governor.

Reacting to the development, Sani said: “What is happening today in Kaduna is shameful and sad. It is unfortunate that Kaduna Central is the most dangerous place to live today in Nigeria, because the governor has abandoned his responsibilities and decided to channel all his energy to fighting Senator Shehu Sani.”

Defending the government, Uba Sani said: “It has become imperative to set the records straight. Everyone has known that it is Shehu Sani that has spent 18 months attacking the governor personally and opposing every government policy. The state government has ignored his tantrums, while the party has acted to uphold discipline.

“Shehu Sani should keep the government out of his woes. We are beneficiaries of democracy and we champion an open society. We respect democratic values and will never resort to unconstitutional means of settling differences. He should be careful not to make wild and unsubstantiated claims.” The Special Adviser advised the senator to stop his political tantrum and grow up from being childish, adding Sani was only roaring because of his suspension from the party.

Observers said the suspension of Sani had been predicted weeks before the hammer finally fell on him. What puzzled them, however, was why the senator ignored the danger signals ahead and decided to continue his criticisms of policies and actions of government.

According to one analyst, the senator’s posture was due to the fact that some powerful forces within the party are behind him and that any attempt to further stretch the mark of humiliation against him would elicit reactions from that quarter. He said even though the forces backing the senator cannot be identified, it is clear the forces against the senator are not willing to engage him in a fight all alone and had to apply tact in dealing with the issue, so as to gain the sympathy of the party leaders at the national level.

He recalled that when Sani began his criticism of the El-Rufai administration almost, immediately after it was inaugurated, the governor and his team were quick to react. But, they later changed tactic and began to ignore whatever was coming from the senator. A source close to government said the action was deliberate, in order not to glorify Sani; it was decided that the governor should rather concentrate on governance as a way of shaming his critics.

At a point, the APC national secretariat intervened when it quashed the earlier suspension slammed on Sani. A high-powered delegation led by the party’s Northwest Vice Chairman, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, sued for peace between the feuding parties.

In spite of this move, some APC stalwarts are not impressed with the role of the national secretariat. One of them, Alhaji Isa Ibrahim, put the blame squarely on the doorsteps of the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. He said: “When you cannot manage a party at the national level, how can you resolve crisis at the state level. I don’t know of any other position apart from that of the National Publicity Secretary that became vacant since the APC assumed office that has been filled. The situation is similar here in Kaduna. The party chairman is the Deputy Governor. It is not normal.

Ibrahim said a lot of people are not happy with the governor, because of his failure to carry everybody along in the governance of the state. He said: “The crisis in Kaduna APC is larger than what you can see; it goes beyond El-Rufai and Sani. The truth is that a lot of people are not happy with the governor. If the state chapter of the party could go ahead with a suspension purportedly quashed by the National Secretariat some months ago, it is a clear sign that the headquarters is not in control.”

Expressing a similar view, an APC chieftain in Kaduna State, Alhaji Suleiman Saleh, blamed the leadership of the party in the state for its failure to comply with the party’s constitution. According to him, the party’s constitution makes it clear that when a position becomes vacant, there must be an election to fill it.

Saleh also faulted the dual positions of the state chairman and the deputy governorship being held by the same person. His words: “The State Chairman of the APC is the Deputy Governor. The secretary of the party was appointed a commissioner and is now the chief of staff to the governor. You can see that the flagrant disobedience of the party’s constitution became a challenge right from the onset. If the vacant positions were legitimately filled, we won’t find ourselves in this problem.

“The way forward for us in Kaduna APC is reconciliation. What is happening now is not a war, but a campaign of violence. It has been difficult to bring the two leaders together for reconciliation, because the leadership of the party is being controlled by the governor. But, the stakeholders have drawn the attention of the party leadership to the inherent danger it portends towards 2019. It is time to put our house in order. Those who can call the governor and the senator to order should do it now.”

Analysts believe the leadership of the APC at the national level must step in immediately to save the party from a major catastrophe in 2019. They also advised the two principal actors in the crisis — El-Rufai and Sani — to shed the toga of arrogance and impunity by engaging in the rule of the game, as outlined in the APC Constitution, for peace to reign in the party.

February 23, 2017