The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Senator Sani

  • APC chieftain defends Senator Sani over ‘harmonise’ controversy

    APC chieftain defends Senator Sani over ‘harmonise’ controversy

    Amid growing social media commentary and public backlash, All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and security expert Abayomi Nurain Mumuni has stepped forward in defense of Senator Sani Musa, whose recent attempt to define the term “harmonise” during a Senate session sparked controversy.

    In a statement issued on Saturday by his media aide, Rasheed Abubakar, Mumuni dismissed the uproar as unnecessary, attributing it to misinterpretation and a deliberate attempt to ridicule rather than understand.

    “The recent discussions surrounding Senator Sani Musa’s attempt to define the term ‘harmonize’ during a Senate session have prompted various speculations and misunderstandings among the public,” the statement noted. “It is imperative to clarify these misconceptions to ensure a well-informed discourse.”

    Mumuni also highlighted Musa’s academic credentials, describing him as a graduate of a reputable Nigerian university with a commendable academic record that reflects his commitment to education and public service.

    “His qualifications and expertise affirm his capability as a Senator, and it’s essential not to undermine his contributions based on unfounded opinions,” Mumuni stated.

    He further argued that the uproar over the senator’s definition was misdirected, stressing that the term “harmonize” has multiple meanings depending on the context in which it is used.

    “This is a common linguistic occurrence, and even elementary students are aware that definitions may vary across different fields and branches of study,” he noted.

    Read Also: Easter: Senator Sani urges Christians to pray hard from home

    Mumuni dismissed the ridicule as “childish” and urged critics to rise above petty debates. “Speculating that a sitting senator ‘failed’ to define a term as fundamental as ‘harmonize’ reflects more on the eagerness to criticize than on an accurate understanding of the matter,” he said. 

    “This notion is, quite frankly, childish and diverts attention from the substantive issues at hand that require robust legislative discussions.”

    He concluded by calling for a more constructive approach to national dialogue.

    “We urge the public, media, and fellow senators to focus on more pertinent issues within our governance and legislative processes rather than engaging in trivial debates,” Mumuni urged. 

    “Let us all strive for a mature and constructive dialogue that benefits our democracy and the citizens we serve.”

  • Murder: Police invite Senator Sani for questioning

    Kaduna State Police Commissioner Austin Iwar has invited Senator Shehu Sani for questioning in a homicide investigation.

    The police said he is a person of interest to the probe and requested the kaduba Central senator to report on April 30.

    A letter, with ref.  no. CR: 2000/KDS/VOL 5H/72 was routed through the Clerk of the National Assembly. A copy of it was sent to Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    “This is in connection with a case of criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide transferred to this office by 1 Division, Nigerian Army, Kaduna, alongside with exhibit audio CD in which your name was mentioned by the principal suspect,” CP Iwar said in a letter to Sani.

    But the Senator alleged that the Kaduna State government had concluded plans to frame him up with a murder case, necessitating the move by the police to label him as person of interest.

    One Isa Garba, one of the suspects in a murder case was said to have implicated the federal lawmaker.

    It was gathered that Sani’s name was mentioned when the suspect, said to have participated in the killings of one Lawal Madugu, implicated another person called Bashir Hamdada.

    Although he did not pick telephone calls put across to him by our Correspondent, the police commissioner was reported to have said that the case was not politically-motivated.

  • Senator Sani’s challenge

    The challenge by Senator Shehu Sani has only been answered partially and that is not good enough. The senator who in my view can now legitimately claim to be distinguished from the rest of his colleagues after squealing on their unconstitutional and unconscionable pilfering also challenged Nigerians to find out how much members of the federal and state executives, the judiciary and state legislators take home monthly in the guise of allowances.

    In revealing the unlawful conduct of the Senate, Sani said he also hoped Nigerians would put pressure on the National Assembly to reduce the illegal allowances they share every month. This challenge has been taken up by Nigerians, particularly the well regarded Socio-Economic Reports and Accountability Project (SERAP), which is reported to be taking steps to compel the National Assembly to account for their illegal earnings.

    The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has also risen up to its responsibility by publicly declaring the lawful entitlement of members of the Senate. According to RMAFC, each senator is entitled to N1.063 million every month as salary and allowances. The difference between the hefty N13.5 million and N1.063 million lawfully due to each senator is the sum due to the national treasury as money had and received for no consideration or money unlawfully obtained under false pretence or by whatever name.

    This column in its contribution penultimate week titled: ‘Assembly of Jeopardy’, had emphasised that if the national will exists, that humongous difference between the legitimate earning of the national legislators and the allowances they appropriate unlawfully to themselves could be recovered back, upon appropriate action being taken by the executive against the members of the National Assembly.

    This column commends SERAP for taking up the challenge to ensure that members of the National Assembly return the monies they are not entitled to. Should they approach the courts, I hope the courts will give such application accelerated hearing while exercising its powers judicially and judiciously in the overall interest of our haemorrhaging country. I also hope the courts will shoot down any attempt by the culprits to have recourse to technicality to defeat the nationalistic effort of SERAP.

    Should the issue of locus standi arise in such an action, the courts I wish will be guided by the decision of the Supreme Court in Adediran v Interland Transport Ltd (1991) 9 NWLR Pt. 214; per Karibi-Whyte JSC, when he said: “The high constitutional policy involved in section 6(6)(b) is the removal of the obstacles erected by common law requirements against individuals bringing actions before the court against the government and its institutions, and the precondition of the consent of the Attorney General”.

    But there is the other challenge put forward by the distinguished senator which Nigerians should also grapple with the same enthusiasm as the unlawful aggrandizement by members of the National Assembly. Sani revealed that every public official in Nigeria takes one form of allowance or the other, and Nigerians deserve to know the amount taken as allowance by every public official. This column agrees totally with the senator and I urge every public institution to come clean about the allowances their officials receive every month or annually.

    In throwing the challenge, the distinguished senator was inferring that other public officials are also pilfering from the public till, and while we are worrying as we should about the over N13.5 million monthly heft of the senators, we should demand to know what their colleagues in the executive arm are taking. Luckily RMAFC has provided a guide in its reaction following the revelation by distinguished Senator Shehu Sani.

    In its public reaction to the heist by members of the National Assembly, the agency said: “RMAFC also wishes to use this opportunity to state that any other payments enjoyed by any political or public office holder outside those provided in the Remuneration Act of 2008 is not known to the commission and the Chief Accounting Officer of the agencies concerned should explain it.”

    The commission in that release was referring to public officials across board. Yet the Third Schedule, Part 1C, paragraph 32(d) the 1999 constitution provides: “The Commission shall have power to (b) determine the remuneration appropriate for political office holders, including the President, Vice President, Governors, Deputy Governors, Ministers, Commissioners, Special Advisers, Legislators and the holders of the offices mentioned in sections 84 and 124 of this constitution….”

    The constitution in section 84 included the presidency, judicial officials as well as specialized federal agencies. In section 124, the constitution refers to the state executive and certain named state agencies. In section 70, the constitution expressly stated that senators and House of Representative members shall receive salary and allowances determined by RMAFC. There is a similar provision in section 111 of the constitution with respect to the House of Assembly across the states.

    So I urge Nigerians to take up the challenge posed by Senator Sani with the seriousness it deserves. While every effort should be made to ensure the National Assembly resort to constitutional earnings, the other public officials should not be spared scrutiny. One of the unlawful money creamed from the national and state treasuries by the federal and state chief executives is the so-called security vote. Such a vote is unknown to the constitution, and what is not approved by law is unlawful.

    As I argued here the penultimate week, it is the primary responsibility of the executive, especially the president to ensure general obedience of the ultimate law of the country, the constitution. The war against graft should include ensuring that every public official earns only what the law allows. The reason why public office attracts more of hooligans than patriots is because of the opportunity to steal from the common wealth. That point was made by Senator Sani when he said that a reduction in the unlawful allowances the senators take will ensure that only those ready to contribute to law-making will get to the Senate.

    To deal with graft in our country, which is a cardinal campaign promise of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the president has to summon the will to stop any public official from getting unlawful entitlements by whatever name it is called. As Lee Kuan Yew wrote in his book: From Third World to First: “It is easy to start off with high moral standards, strong convictions, and determination to beat down corruption. But it is difficult to live up to these good intentions unless the leaders are strong and determined enough to deal with all transgressors, and without exceptions.”

    Our nation will continue to dodder if those who have access to public funds are entitled to abuse it without any consequence. As we celebrate Easter, perhaps this is a good time for our public officials to eat the humble pie, and stop the pillaging of our common treasury.

  • Senator Sani and the hypocrisy in us

    When Shehu Sani, a sitting Senator from Kaduna State, confirmed the stories making the rounds about the huge pay members of the National Assembly collect monthly, I knew straightaway that he had put his foot in it.

    The hoopla that followed was understandable. From the man’s colleagues in the NASS, it seemed like the man had spilled the beans, something akin to being a traitor, to be immediately ostracised, though not by all of his colleagues but by most of them.

    I bear in mind that another colleague of his, Ben Bruce from Bayelsa State, had also once complained that they were almost being choked to bursting by the humongous amount of taxpayers’ money they take home every month.

    Why Shehu, and Ben before him, had not rejected the huge pay had been explained in a most succinct and realistic manner by the human rights activist/senator. But I know the explanation won’t wash with most citizens who, if the truth must be told, are themselves culpable in the crazy situation that brought about the pay-out idea.

    Why should one person whose productivity is annoyingly irreconcilable to the amount of salary he earns, be allowed to continue bleeding the nation to death this way, when many of his more productive compatriots all over the place are being paid pittance?

    But, then, why not? Aren’t we, by our general behavioural pattern, responsible for the situation that could bring a set of people together to allocate a huge chunk of the nation’s finances to a negligible fraction of the population?

    Once you become an honourable member of the house or a senator or a governor or a commissioner or council chairman or even board member, you have had it in this country.

    No matter how much you are paid, you must now take care of the everyday need of every of your constituents – from paying for the ante and post natal treatment of other people’s wives, to the sponsorship of their children’s education, etc, etc.

    And you dare not turn down their requests for financial assistance anytime they approach you, lest you become their target of immolation and demolition.

    The insatiable greed of our people is inexplicable as it is indefensible and for this country to be brought back from the brink, our needs as a people must be moderated such that a stop will be put to the unending demands on our public office holders.

    While on that, isn’t it about time the federal government looked into the possibility of introducing some social system that can help ameliorate the grinding poverty in the land. I have an idea. Statistics of how many we are in this country and how much money is available to the country can help in determining whether certain social measures can be put in place to ease the pains of the people.

    A negligible percent is swimming in stupendous and questionable wealth and affluence while too many wallow in abject poverty and I suggest that if a deliberate policy is not instituted to bridge this widening gap, it is a matter of time before the have-nots revolt to make no room for the haves’ to enjoy their riches or loot. When that happens, the innocent will suffer along with the guilty!

    Truth is that we are not yet organised, to put in place the kind of social system in the UK where the jobless earn some free money every week from government – and are even provided free or subsided housing, to boot. We aren’t organised and disciplined enough to embrace such social system yet; but we can device a deliberate policy of state that can make our citizens aspire to such attainment.

    In Botswana, I believe life is not as brutish as it is here, in spite of the enormous human, vegetable and mineral resources available to our country. Otherwise a course-mate of mine would not be longing to return home to Botswana soon after our final papers while the rest of us were thinking of staying back in the UK to hug the jobs that were not readily available in our own country.

    If a citizen of a smaller African country can be so confident and proud of his country that he was convinced there was no better attraction in the U.K. to make him remain there after his studies, why can’t our rulers institute a social system that will us equally as proud?

    If the outlandish allowances and other perquisites of office are moderated to conform with decency as they obtain elsewhere, and the excesses thus saved are deployed to the amelioration of the poverty ravaging our people, we will be well on the way to preventing the unimaginable social upheaval that may consume this nation in a future that is closing in.

     

    Tinubu: The generous ‘general’

    No politician, after Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Alhaji Lateef Jakande, has captured
    people’s imagination and admiration as does Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Asiwaju of Lagos and the Jagaban Borgu.
    He is petite in stature but the fertility of his brain and the positive and noble uses to which he has deployed it to the betterment of humanity and the advancement of society, is so gargantuan that few, if any in the political terrain, can stand up to his famed attributes.
    His attributes, many ennobling, can take thousands of words to itemise but they will suffice here, to capture, in a sentence: “The man with a large heart”. This large-heartedness has been proven and applauded beyond the shores of this country; and abused by not a few, majority of who are beneficiaries of his humanity. But that shouldn’t be a bother to the birthday boy of the week, who turned 66 this Thursday.
    I’m anxious friends and foes make up, as no one knows when the judgement day will knock, but one thing is certain, generosity is a shield against evil; and the Asiwaju should continuously thank Allah for making him a “Generous General”, whose generosity has been his greatest armour against too many buffetings. I joy million others to wish him a pleasant celebration.

  • APC WILL BE DOOMED IF TINUBU’S COMMITTEE FAILS, SAYS SENATOR SANI

    APC WILL BE DOOMED IF TINUBU’S COMMITTEE FAILS, SAYS SENATOR SANI

    Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial district and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign and Local Debt, Senator Shehu Sani has asked all stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to support the efforts of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reconcile aggrieved party members across the country, saying it will be a tragedy if he fails in his assignment.

    Senator Sani told newsmen while on a visit to the APC national secretariat that the announcement of the Tinubu led committee actually put on hold planned mass defection by aggrieved members of the party as a result of lingering and unresolved crisis in some states.

    While saying Tinubu stand the best chance to reconcile members of the party, he said members of the National Assembly, governors and the party leadership are not in any position to reconcile aggrieved members of the party because they are party to the problem, while there is absolute no regard for the party leadership by those holding executive positions.

    He lamented the absence of party supremacy in the country, saying “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.”

    Sani who has been locked in a battle with Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai for nearly two years said President Buhari must come out now to let the world know if he was interested in seeking reelection in the overall interest of the country.

    He said: “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.”

    Sani expressed concern that a party that came to power with so much good will and hope has suddenly found itself in what he describe as “civil war” with itself, saying 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.

    He said one tragedy that usually become the symptom that extinguishes a political party is absence of internal democracy, saying “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.

    According to him, once a group of people within a party see others as strangers within the party, then the recipe for crisis has been set, saying “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.

    “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.”

    Asked if he was interested in contesting the governorship of Kaduna state, Senator Sani said he would rather put the decision on whether to contest the governorship or not on hold until after the reconciliation efforts by the Tinubu led committee in line with the plea of the President.

    He said “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 said 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.”

    Explaining why the National Assembly reordered the order of elections as released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Sani said the parliament only acted to save the nation’s democracy from a bandwagon effect that would be associated with conducting the Presidential election first.

    He said “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.”

     

  • Why Osinbajo is under attack, by Senator Sani

    Why Osinbajo is under attack, by Senator Sani

    Those attacking acting President Yemi Osinbajo might have been unwittingly creating room for a North-South crisis, Senator Shehu  Sani has said.

    Some politicians from the North at the weekend accused the acting president of nepotism in appointments, but the senator said the criticism was uncalled for.

    Sani (Kaduna Central) spoke in Kano yesterday after paying a condolence visit on Mallam Aminu Kano family over the death last month of Aishatu, the widow of the late Second Republic presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). He accused the northern politicians “who have suddenly derived the pleasure in attacking the acting president as “hell bent on creating religious and ethnic disaffection among Nigerians”.

    He said: ‘’The actions and utterances of these northerners are designed to ignite disturbances and conflict between Osinbajo and President Muhammadu Buhari.

    ‘’The acting President has proved to be a consistent and absolute loyalist of President Muhammadu Buhari. It is unfair for anyone to accuse him of ethnic or religious bias or tribalism. Osinbajo has kept the flame of progress alight since the absence of the President. Those attacking Osinbajo are reactionary conservative elements.

    ‘’I believe that they have the fundamental right to express their opinion and make public their own perception but we must be very careful not to instigate crisis and conflict between the North and the Southern part of Nigeria.”

    He recalled that some progressives across the country came together to install the Buhari government, adding: ‘’I think we should appreciate the contributions of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Osinbajo and others, who worked tirelessly and invested so much to see that we have fundamental changes.”

    To Sani, ‘’Acting President Osinbajo has proven to be a capable, able and a determined leader, who has remained consistent on the side of his principal”. I think he should be appreciated rather than being condemned,” he said.

    Sani advised the Acting President to be very watchful and very careful not to make a mistake so as not to give room for ethnic and religious forces to capitalise and create crisis and conflict within the administration”.

    The senator extolled the virtues of Hajiya Aishatu, saying her death had created a gap between the past and the future.

    ’’She gave us hope and encouragement. She inspired us and served as the guardian of politics of principle and ideology.

    ‘’She lived long to see the good and the bad, as well as the worst of Nigeria and she lived long to see the dream of her late husband metamorphose to a political change in Nigeria,” he said.

    ‘’ We will forever remember her as the woman behind the stitch of revolutionary politics,” Sani said, adding that we will remember her as “an invisible, hard and a silent voice in the struggle for liberation, social justice and emancipation of the poor”.