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Tag: Shehu Sani

  • Buhari must avoid Jonathan’s foreign policy, says Shehu Sani

    Buhari must avoid Jonathan’s foreign policy, says Shehu Sani

    THE Senator-elect for Kaduna Central District, Comrade Shehu Sani, yesterday urged the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to avoid “cassava bread foreign policy” of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    He said it was time for the nation to reassert its leadership role in Africa.

    He pleaded with Buhari to set up a team of experts to work in consultation with the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (INEC) and Council on Foreign Relations to repackage Nigeria’s foreign policy.

    Sani, who gave the advice in a statement in Abuja, said: “The emergence of Buhari as president-elect will re-launch Nigeria back to its enviable position as the leader of Africa and the black race.

    “President Jonathan’s foreign policy is uncoordinated, unfocused, uninformed, non-directional and uncolourful. President Goodluck presided over a government that is ignorant of the continental and global status and responsibilities of the country.

    “Under Jonathan, our leadership position in the continent slipped away. President Jonathan operated a “cassava bread foreign policy.

    “President Jonathan administration’s foreign policy is dismal. Under Jonathan, Nigeria lost its teeth in the African Union (AU). Our president was absent at the 50th anniversary of the AU and in the continental effort to find peace in the Central African Republic, Sudan and Congo.

    “We failed to take a driver’s seat to help the people of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in the height of their Ebola days. We betrayed the people of Palestine by abstaining from voting for their statehood in the United Nations (UN).

    “We helplessly watched as thousands of our African youths sank in the Mediterranean in attempts to cross over to Europe. We attracted condemnation from other African countries for depending on France to come and fight our homegrown terrorism in the Northeast.

    “We have no official position on the chaos in Libya and the dangerous presence of ISIS in the continent.”

    Sani, however, set agenda for the President-elect and urged him to reassert Nigeria’s leadership role in the continent.

    The statement added: “The President-elect must reassert Nigeria’s leadership role in the continent. Africa should continue to be the centre-piece of our foreign policy.

    “We must have a result-oriented and unambiguous position on pressing issues, which affects our continent and the entire black race. President Buhari must rekindle the idea of United States of Africa and give a new life to Pan-Africanism as propagated by the founding fathers of African independence – Kwame Nrumah, Sekou Toure, Patrice Lumumba, Gamal Abdul Nasser and others.

    “The new president-elect needs to set up a team of experts to work in consultation with the NIIA and Council on Foreign Relations to repackage Nigeria’s foreign policy with the view of returning Nigeria to the world stage in leadership and in influence.

    “Our new foreign policy needs to reflect the interest of our people and our continent and not an appeasement to any power. We need to be visibly seen and audibly heard in the world state again.

    “The President-elect must lead in the consolidation or search for peace in the African continent; he must lead in the global fight to end the presence of terrorist cells in the continent; he must lead in discouraging and rescuing our young men and women drowning in the Mediterranean Sea in search of “a better life in Europe”.

    “Buhari’s election brought relief and a new hope for our people and our country, we must radiate this to the whole continent. Africa must not be a safe haven for tyrants and terrorists. We must champion the cause of the ideals of freedom, democracy, peace and development in the continent.

    “Our economic relationship with China must be guided by the philosophy of mutual benefit and respect for the host and the environment.

    “President Buhari must operate an open, transparent and accountable government so as to inspire other countries in Africa and help dissolve the remnants of dictators who still parade the political landscape of the continent.”

  • Genuine Nigerians will vote for APC – Sani

    The president of Civil Rights Congress, Comrade Shehu Sani, has said any Nigeria that loves the nation dearly will vote for the All Progressives Congress in the forthcoming  elections.

    He said no African country can match Nigeria in terms of abundance of resources, but what the country lacks since the return of democracy in 1999 was good leaders that will turn around the country’s fortunes to propel its development.

    Sani, who is APC senatorial candidate for Kaduna Central, spoke when he visited the people of Tudun Wada and Bakin Ruwa in Kaduna South local government on Tuesday.

    Addressing the leadership of Keke NAPEP riders at Bakin Ruwa, the Senatorial hopeful lamented that things have degenerated in the country to the extent that the northern region which used to be independent now has to wait for oil proceeds to feed its people.

    “Today the north is facing series of challenges, ranging from Boko Haram insurgency to poverty and unemployment. Therefore, we must rise up and elect an APC government that will reopen industries in the north and revive its agriculture.

    “We are not opposed to any part of Nigeria producing the President of the country, but now, we need someone like Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to get the country back on track.

    “Countries like Saudi Arabia are better today, because they are being governed by people with the fear of God and interest of the masses at heart. But, in own case, corruption at high places has stagnated the development of our dear country,” he said.

  • Jonathan becoming allergic to democratic values – Shehu Sani

    Jonathan becoming allergic to democratic values – Shehu Sani

    The President of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, Mallam Shehu Sani, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of becoming allergic to democratic values and ethos of freedom.

    He also said the nation is sliding toward totalitarianism and asked the President to watch it.

    He described the police invasion of the National Assembly as unwarranted.

    Sani, who made the observations in a statement, condemned the government’s increasing resistance to the Rule of Law.

    He said: “Unfolding events points to a visible symptoms of tyranny and a retrogressive slide to totalitarianism.

    “President Jonathan’s government is becoming allergic to democratic values and ethos of freedom.

    “The legitimacy and validation of an elected government is predicated upon its total conformity to those principles under which it was established.

    “The increasing resistance to the rule of law by the Federal Government and the criminal trespass on our fundamental rights by security agents of the state symbolizes a dark cloud of authoritarianism hanging over the sky our beloved nation.

    “We fought bitterly to restore democratic rule in Nigeria. We went to prison to restore democratic rule in Nigeria, we will not fold our arms and watch our nation slide back to sadism.”

    Sani faulted the police invasion of the National Assembly and described it as “unwarranted.”

    He added: “The raid on the National Assembly by the Nigerian police stands unreservedly condemned. The National Assembly represents the soul of our democracy and the raid represented an unwarranted strike on our very soul.

    “The assault was a political sacrilege and a desecration of such an important democratic institution.

    “The raid demonstrated the degree of desperation and abuse of power by the Jonathan led government in his rabid bid to succeed himself.

    “Since 1999 no government has so brazenly and criminally used, misused and abused the state apparatus like the existing one.

    He also queried the attack on the data centre of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos.

    He said: “The assault on the APC secretariat in Lagos also stands unreservedly condemned. The police, the army and the ex-militants’ vote alone cannot reelect the incumbent government.”

     

  • Toward the future of Nigeria

    Toward the future of Nigeria

     The current system (bequeathed to the country by military dictators and sustained by civilian rulers for the past 16 years) of dependence on oil at local, state, and central levels is not sustainable in the long run.

    Northern states cannot continue to survive on Niger Delta’s oil money. Our states are bereft of ideas that will generate revenue to run our affairs. There is no state in the North that can pay one month salary without federal allocation, and federal allocation is derived from the sale of the Niger Delta’s oil. This is dangerous and spells disaster in the future….If Nigeria splits today, the North is in danger…We must resist money politics and elect credible people. We must protect our votes. – Shehu Sani

     

    The extract from the campaign  material of one of the country’s leading human rights activists, Shehu Sani, reminds me of the Yoruba saying: Ibitiiyati n baomo re wi, niomoalainiyati n koogbon (where and when a mother counsels her child, a motherless child within earshot pays rapt attention and thereby learns wisdom). Campaigning for votes for the senate in Kaduna Central Senatorial District recently, Sani used the occasion to canvass for votes and at the same time persuade the electorate in his constituency about the need for a rethink or new vision of and for Nigeria, if citizens at large are to benefit from the union.

    Nigeria has for too long depended on the oil money from the Niger Delta. When successions of military dictators changed the revenue allocation formula of 50% for derivation to zero to the model of bottle-feeding each state from the breast milk of the Niger Delta, they based the sudden change of policy on the imperative of national unity and cohesion. The school of thought then was that a policy of even development through donation of oil money to states would make Nigerians feel a sense of belonging to one country and see themselves as brothers and sisters eating from the same pot or bowl. Similarly, the policy to balkanise the regions into mini states and create about 800 local governments to receive milk from the national feeding bottle was also supported by the theory that to keep Nigeria united after the civil war, the more oil money that is taken to the grassroots, the higher the chances of national integration.

    Nigerians from all parts of the country have grown to see oil money as the source of life for the nation-state. In the north, bogus theories about oil as national resource were propagated to counter calls for return to federalism and the pre-1966 revenue allocation system. The most prominent of such theories from public intellectuals from the north were two. The first one is that there would have been no petroleum in the Niger Delta if solid and liquid wastes had not over centuries come through Benue and Niger rivers in the north to the delta and the basin that produces oil in the Niger Delta. The second claim is that it was federal resources that were used in the 1950s to intensify exploration and later develop technology for exploitation. In the western part of the country, many politicians argued (and still do) in the day for resource sovereignty for the Niger Delta while using the night to canvass for continuation of the revenue allocation system that dished out money to states and local governments, saying in whispers that post-military governors would not be able to sustain free education without such soft funds from the Niger Delta. Such thinkers could not be bothered by the interjection that there was no trace of petroleum in the country when Obafemi Awolowo’s government introduced free education in the Western Region in 1955.

    It is on record that the issue of dependence on oil money was a major factor in the failure of the recent national conference to go beyond recommendations for cosmetic or symbolic changes to the current unitary constitution, designed to support easy flow of funds to states and local governments. Even those who argued at the conference for additional 19 states (to move from 36 to 55 states) did so on the strength that the oil money would flow to the new 19 mini states. Even when the conference agreed that local government creation and development should be the sole responsibility of each state, the conference still kept intact the policy of direct allocation of funds from the federation account (made possible by petroleum) to the 774 or more local governments.

    Sani’s assessment that there is no state in the north that can pay one month salary without federal allocation applies to over 30 of the current 36 states. Only Lagos State in the west can pay one month salary without federal allocation and without floating bonds. There is no state in the Southeast and outside the oil-producing states (which now receive 13% percent for derivation) that can sustain its secretariat without direct allocation from the federation account. Most of the governors in the south have confessed publicly that they have no money for development and even to pay salaries if the Accountant-General in Abuja fails to send quarterly or monthly allocations down to the states.

    One does not have to have a stake in Sani’s chances to become a senator for Kaduna before acknowledging that the human rights activist in his recent campaign speech was addressing all of Nigeria on the right way to go, if the entire country is not to become endangered. The current system (bequeathed to the country by military dictators and sustained by civilian rulers for the past 16 years) of dependence on oil at local, state, and central levels is not sustainable in the long run. The price of petroleum is more likely to go down than to rise from now on. Technological innovations to produce new forms of renewable energy are yielding good results in many other parts of the globe; new sources of petroleum are coming from fracking; new technologies to save energy and thus reduce consumption are also coming to the global market.

    All of these indicate that any country that defines reality largely in terms of the oil it produces is virtually living in the past. The north is not likely to be more endangered than the west or the east, should Nigeria break. Having depended on manna for decades at the instance of military theory of political unity, no section of the country is likely to be immune from danger when oil prices head south. There used to be a time when each of the regions made good and respectable living from productive as distinct from the extractive activities that currently drive the economy: cotton, groundnut, cocoa rubber, palm oil production. There was a time when Ivory Coast, currently the world’s largest producer of cocoa, used to be behind Nigeria and Ghana in cocoa production. There used to be a time when Indonesia and Malaysia needed the assistance of Nigeria with respect to palm oil production. Today, Nigeria even imports palm oil in bleached form from Malaysia and Indonesia, with money made from petroleum.

    What needs to change radically is the mindset that Nigeria turned Nigerian political leaders into prayer warriors for manna from the Niger Delta. It is citizens that can drive such change. As voters, they need, as Sani has recommended to the people of Kaduna senatorial district, to identify candidates who want to serve and produce, in contrast to the hordes that ask for votes to enable them sleep and consume from the soft funding made possible by petroleum. The reason citizens have lost the courage or energy to resist corruption and impunity that hold the entire by the jugular at present is that the money being used to keep the country as it is and to intimidate citizens does not come from citizens’ efforts and taxes. Voters all over the country need to consider the future of their children and grandchildren by voting for candidates who are capable of going beyond the Sisyphean effort to do the same thing over and over, without noticeable benefits to citizens.

  • Shehu Sani: northerners’ll be in slavery, if…

    Shehu Sani: northerners’ll be in slavery, if…

    Human rights activist Comrade Shehu Sani yesterday said commoners in the North would be in “perpetual slavery”, if they did not resist money politics and elect credible leaders.

    He said disaster awaited the region, if it continued to depend on “the Niger Delta’s oil money, which forms the monthly federation allocation to states”.

    Sani, who wants to contest the Kaduna Central senatorial election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), addressed railway pensioners and workers yesterday at Kaduna Junction, state headquarters of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).

    He said: “Northern states cannot continue to survive on Niger Delta’s oil money. Our states are bereft of ideas that will generate revenue to run our affairs. There is no state in the North than can pay one month salary without federation allocation, and federal allocation is derived from the sale of the Niger Delta’s oil. This is dangerous and spells disaster in the future. Is it possible for someone to be feeding you without controlling you? Our visionary leaders like the late Sir Ahmadu Bello foresaw these dangers, yet our leaders betrayed the course of common good. If Nigeria splits today, the North is in danger.

    “We must resist money politics and elect credible people. We must protect our votes. We are only number one in population. We have the highest number of senators, governors, local governments and councilors but have the highest number of beggars and oppressed citizens.”

    Leader of the pensioners Mohammed Aliyu said their pension is 5,000 each. The pensioners pledged to work against money politics.

    The gathering ended with prayers for peace and unity.

  • Why activists are seeking elective offices, by Shehu Sani

    Why activists are seeking elective offices, by Shehu Sani

    Chairman of the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) Comrade Shehu Sani has blamed the nation’s problems on the failure of activists to seek elective offices after military rule ended.

    He said instead of taking over from the military dictators, “they abdicated leadership positions to those who lacked democratic value and culture”.

    Speaking with reporters yesterday in Minna, the Niger State capital, Sani said the sad development was responsible for the enthronement of corruption, instead of the development usually associated with democracy.

    He said many of the activists who rescued the nation from the military had resolved to rescue it from undemocratic elements that have been in power since 1999.

    Sani said: “We have faced a lot of questions about why we want to venture into politics. But politics should not be left for corrupt people or incompetent politicians. It should not be left for those who have no interest in developing the country.

    “Particularly, I am from the northern part of Nigeria and it is very clear that senators from the North have not been living up to expectations. If you look at statistics from 1999 to date, you will discover that over 60 to 70 per cent of National Assembly members are from the North and most of our senators are not active.”

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain said he was eyeing Kaduna Central senatorial seat to give his people a voice and responsible leadership, which he said were lacking in the present dispensation.

    He said the APC would take over Kaduna next year, if it puts its house in order, stressing that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had never won a free and fair election in the state.

    Sani said the 2015 elections would be different because the APC now knew the PDP’s antics.

     

     

  • Northerners to Jonathan: You’ve failed

    Northerners to Jonathan: You’ve failed

    Prominent voices from Northern Nigeria have replied President Goodluck Jonathan’s self appraisal in his Independence Day address, where he said, he has performed well in the last five years of his government.

    They disagreed with the President on the claim, saying he has failed woefully with his inability to put his feet on the ground and deal with those who had been the cog in the will of Nigeria’s progress.

    The northern public also faulted the celebration of the country’s independence, saying only those looting the nation’s treasury had reasons to celebrate.

    Shehu Sani, a prominent human rights activist, said, “The Jonathan administration has been able to appease the yearning of people of South South to produce the President of Nigeria. But all that has is that he ended up enriching a gang of militants and he has become so inept and incapable of prosecuting corruption.

    “The nation has never been divided like we have been under Goodluck Jonathan and the worst of all today, we are faced with a serious problem of insurgency and kidnapped to which the reputation of his government damaged.

    “The President has failed woefully, especially with his inability to put his feet down and deal with some certain persons in his government who had been seen to be cog in the will of Nigeria’s progress.”

    On the nation’s independence, he said, “You can categorize Nigeria’s history into four segments namely the colonial era, democratic era, military rule, civil war and now insurgency. To assess the journey so far, you can also sub divide it into three or four sub sections.

    “You can assess the journey so far politically, economically, socially and the journey so far historically. Politically, you can say that we have spent most of our period of independence under military rule and that had denied Nigerians the opportunity to rise and fall and learn from the democratic process.

    “The military rule was a period characterized by human right violations, tyranny, depression and unaccountable government. It was also a period of political prosecution. The military rule was an aberration, it was a moment in which individuals took up arms against the will and the constitution of the country and impose themselves as political leaders. In the process, they amass wealth, stylishly the socio-political and economic development of the country.

    The Spokesman of Northern Elders’ Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, said, “There is nothing to say than telling Nigerians that there is no reason to celebrate Nigeria at 54.

    While, a former federal lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said, “Nigeria is not in the right direction towards development. We are only in the direction towards mayhem and confusion, poverty, corruption and irresponsible governance. Therefore, there is nothing celebrate about our being 54. And those who go out of their way to loot our treasury to celebrate know within themselves that, there is nothing to celebrate.”

     

  • Northern leaders responsible for North’s woes, says Shehu Sani

    Northern leaders responsible for North’s woes, says Shehu Sani

    Northern leaders are responsible for 70 per cent of the North’s woes, President of the Civil Rights Congress Comrade Shehu Sani said at the weekend.

    He said the President Goodluck Jonathan administration was responsible for the remaining 30 per cent of the region’s problems.

    Sani spoke in Kaduna when he visited unpaid workers of the closed Kaduna Textile Limited (KTL).

    He said northern leaders had the opportunity to industrialise the region but failed to do so when they were at the helm of affairs.

    The activist said the North could live without oil revenue, if it revived textile industries and agriculture, and invested in solid minerals, adding that the possibility of exploring oil from the North is “indispensable”.

    He said: “The northern part of Nigeria has been destroyed 70 per cent by northern leaders and 30 per cent by the Jonathan administration. Northern leaders had the opportunity to industrialise, educate and uplift the region, but they have left behind a region that is backward and whose future is in doubt.

    “For over three decades when northerners were in power, they used the opportunity to empower traditional rulers and make the rich richer. But what is very clear is that northern Nigeria can live without oil revenue. What it needs are political leaders, who understand the reality of change that is fast taking place in Nigeria and the world, and the need to harness the resources of the North for the development of its people.

    “It is time for northern political leaders to sit down and devote more energy to the economic revival and empowerment of the region as much as they devote energy to the political future of the rich.

    “The textile industry has been destroyed by years of neglect by successive governments and political leaders in the North. Northern Nigeria has a lot to deliver to its people. The need to revive the textile industries and agriculture, invest in solid minerals and the possibility of exploiting oil from the North is indispensable.”

  • Boko Haram can’t declare funding sources, says Sani

    Boko Haram can’t declare funding sources, says Sani

    •NLC: we must not lose any part of Nigeria

    Civil Rights Congress (CRC) President Shehu Sani yesterday ruled out the possibility of Boko Haram disclosing its source of funding and sponsorship to Dr. Stephen Davis, an Austrialian hostage negotiator.

    Dr. Davis, in an interview, had alleged the involvement of some prominent politicians, military officers and government officials in sponsoring Boko Haram.

    Reacting to the allegation by Dr. Davis on his facebook wall yesterday, Sani, who facilitated the meeting of former President Olusegun Obasanjo with the group in Maiduguri in 2011, said it was impossible for genuine Boko Haram top rank to disclose to any negotiator their source of funding.

    “I have been asked by many people to confirm whether the statement credited to the Australian negotiator, which implicates two persons over the sponsorship of Boko Haram is true or false.

    “The truth and little I know is that it is very impossible for genuine Boko Haram top rank to disclose to any negotiator their source of funding.

    “Any negotiator who deviates from his acclaimed role of a broker and tried to seek information about their source of funding, they will likely treat him as a spy.

    “How logical is it for the group to be sponsored by persons they consistently despised and targeted?

    “The government has denied any link with the mediator and I believe the group will make their statement on the issue,” Sani said.

    Also yesterday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) asked the Federal Government to use maximum force to repel the Boko Haram Insurgency.

    In a statement in Abuja entitled “We must not lose any part of Nigeria to insurgents” and signed by NLC President Abdulwahed Omar, the Congress said the fact that members of the group had decided to come out in their number to attack towns and villages in the Northeast is a clear indication that they had declared war on the country and must be repelled by every force available.

    The umbrella body of workers expressed concern at the speed with which the insurgents are taking over towns and villages, pointing out that if not curtailed, it is capable of discrediting the Armed Forces that have performed creditably in peace keeping missions across the world.

    The statement reads: “The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, is worried about the recent incursion into some towns and villages, especially in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states in the north eastern part of the country by the Boko Haram terror group.

    “These violent attacks and reported seizures and declaration of an Islamic republic remain unacceptable and must never be allowed as a republic cannot exist within a republic.

    “While we appreciate the commitment of Nigeria’s security agencies, particularly the armed forces, to the battle against insurgency in Nigeria, we strongly warn that the consequence of allowing any part of the country to be forcefully seized by any group will be overwhelmingly harmful to our collective unity and socioeconomic advancement, just as it would also endanger the growth of democracy.

    “We are worried at the speed with which the insurgents are taking over communities even in areas reported to have heavy security presence. It is time the Nigerian armed forces prove their preparedness to protect and defend the Nigerian people and their territories by using all within their armoury to protect our territorial integrity.

    “The credibility and professional image of our armed forces would be at stake, even in global ratings, if our forces who have been widely acclaimed to have performed so well during peace keeping operations in different parts of the world would allow themselves to be overrun by insurgents back home.

    “While we commend the Federal Government for providing necessary human and material needs for the battle against these insurgents, we believe the government can do more in ensuring the troops are well kitted with modern weapons and all that is required to fight contemporary wars as the situation has obviously moved beyond mere insurgency.

    “We must never allow any part of Nigeria to be subjected to perpetual fear and nightmares, which the entire north east seem to have been boxed into. The need for an urgent intervention in the funding and provision of appropriate equipment to the Nigerian armed forces as well as proper policing of communities across the country cannot be over emphasized at this juncture.

    “The failure to do this will be a monumental discredit to the Federal Government under whose direction and authority the armed forces as well as the overall safety of all residents is constitutionally placed.

    “It is clear that the insurgents have decided to massively move out of their hideouts to launch massive attacks on the country and this must be seen as a declaration of war and should be repelled with the best weapons, which must be made available for our collective defence.

    “Every part of the country is as important as other parts and our collective interests and future would be subjugated if any part is taken by anti-Nigeria forces. The events of the last few weeks clearly indicate the determination of the sect to violate Nigeria’s territorial integrity”.

     

  • Boko Haram can’t disclose its source of funding – Sani

    President of Civil Right Congress, Comrade Shehu Sani, on Monday ruled out the possibility of Boko Haram sect disclosing its source of funding and sponsorship to the Australian hostage negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis.

    Davis in an interview with the media had alleged the involvement of some prominent politicians, military officers and government officials in the Boko Haram insurgency.

    Reacting to the Australian allegation on his facebook wall on Monday, Sani who also facilitated the meeting between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the group in Maiduguri in 2011 said it was impossible for genuine Boko Haram members to disclose to any negotiator the sect’s source of funding.

    Sani, who dismissed the allegation said, “I have been asked by many people to confirm whether the statement credited to the Australian negotiator about the involvement of some people in the Boko Haram insurgency is true or false.

    “The truth and the little I know is that it is very impossible for genuine Boko Haram top rank members to disclose to any negotiator their source of funding.

    “Any negotiator who deviates from his acclaimed role of a broker and tried to seek information about their source of funding will likely be treated as a spy.

    “How logical is it for the group to be sponsored by persons they consistently despised and targeted?

    “The government has denied any link with the mediator and I believe the group will make their  statement on the issue,” Sani stated.