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Tag: Shehu Sani

  • Senate ticket: Shehu Sani resigns from APC

    • Says posterity will judge

    Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) yesterday parted ways with the All Progressives Congress (APC), citing “grave injustice by the leadership of the party.”

    The lawmaker announced this in a letter addressed to the APC Chairman, Ward 6, Tudun Wada North, Kaduna State.

    He said:”I present to you my highest compliments and wish by this communication to formally offer you my resignation from the APC.

    “I had joined the APC and remained with it against all odds in the belief that it will constitute a veritable platform for the realisation of those democratic ideals which I hold very dear.

    “I joined in the belief that honour and integrity will be the ultimate ethos of the party and most importantly, that internal democracy will always be the norm.”

    The lawmaker expressed disappointment at the manner in which the tenets of the party were being thwarted.

    He added that, “only posterity can affirm the extent to which the APC has committed to and reflected these values.

    “As I exit the APC at this point in time, I wish to formally thank the party for availing me the platform upon which I am currently serving this country.”

    He said only posterity can affirm the extent to which the APC has committed to and reflected those values.

    Sani, was the only aspirant cleared to contest the senatorial election by the national leadership of the APC and  endorsed by the appeals panel.

    His name was however missing from the list of the APC candidates sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday, October 18.

    The Nation gathered that the party forwarded the name of Mallam Uba Sani, the preferred candidate of Governor Nasir el Rufai to the electoral body against the advice of the appeals panel that the primary that produced him was conducted in contempt of the court.

    Contacted yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Lanre Isa-Oniru said the party would  react appropriately in due course.

    He said “we received the news of the alleged defection of Senator Sheu Sani through media reports. The party leadership will relate with all the facts concerning the reported defection and react appropriately in due course.”

    However, the national leadership of the APC has said it has learnt of media reports regarding the resignation of one of its senators, Shehu Sani. Shehu Sani.

    The party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu said it was studying all the facts before taking an appropriate action. He said, “We received the news of the alleged defection of Senator Shehu Sani through media reports. The party leadership will relate with all the facts concerning the reported defection and react appropriately in due course,” he said.

    Sani had reportedly announced his resignation in a letter addressed to his ward chairman in Kaduna State. The letter signed by the lawmaker and copied to the National Chairman of the party, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, however, did not state his next political destination.

     

  • Breaking: Senator Shehu Sani dumps APC

    Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the red chamber of National Assembly has resigned his membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
    Shehu Sani left APC on Saturday as the coast became clearer that, the party has submitted name of Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s aide, Malam Uba as its candidate for Kaduna Central Senatorial seat.
    In his resignation letter to APC at Tudun Wada Ward, the senator only resigned his party membership without stating his destination political party.
    The resignation letter read in part, “I present to you my highest compliments and wish by this communication to formally offer to you my resignation from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
    “I have joined the APC and remained with it against all odds in the belief that it will consider a veritable platform for the realization of those democratic idea which I hold very dear, that honour and integrity will be the ultimate ethos of the party and, most importantly, that internal party democracy will always be the norm.
    “However, only posterity can affirm the extent to which the APC has committed to and reflected these values.
    “As I exit the APC at this time, I wish to formally thank the party for availing me the platform upon which I am currently serving this country in the honoured capacity of Senator of the Federal Republic.” The letter read.
    Confirming the resignation, Special Assistant to Shehu Sani on Media, Abdulsamad Chimma-Amadi confirmed the  resignation of his principal from APC.
    “Yes, that is the story for now. The Senator has resigned from APC today but he has not moved to any political party as I am speaking with you. So, if there is any update, I will get across to you.” He said.

  • 2019: APC declares Shehu Sani as candidate

    The Appeals Committee set up by the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has upheld the decision of the party to returned Senator Shehu Sani as the candidate of the party for the Kaduna Central Senatorial District.

    The committee said the primary conducted by the electoral panel set up by the party was done in contempt of a court order, adding that the only aspirant cleared by the party to contest the election was Senator Shehu Sani.

    Senator Sani was one of the four aspirants that petitioned the Appeals Panel, with Senator Mohammed Sani Saleh, Hon. Usman Ibrahim and Hon. samsudeen Lawal Giwa being the other three.

    Both Saleh, Ibrahim and Giwa questioned the decision to disqualify them and give automatic ticket to one of them and demanded fresh primaries, while the fifth aspirant why was declared winner of the primary by the committee and Political Adviser to the governor, Mallam UBA Sani did not file any petition before the panel.

    The panel also dismissed the two petition against the party candidate in Kaduna North Senatorial District, Senator Aliyu Mohammed Lawal and Dr. Abba Ibrahim against Suleiman Abdu Kwari’s candidacy.

    It also dismissed all petitions against the conduct of the House of Representatives seat and declared Ahmed Mohammed Munir Lere as the candidate of the party for Lere Federal Constituency, stressing that the candidate that was declared winner was indicted by a court of competent jurisdiction in 2008.

    The panel also dismissed the petition by the former Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba against the conduct of the party primary for Jigawa South Senatorial District that his name was removed from the ballot paper, ruling that he actually participated in the primary.

    The panel asked the National Working Committee to take an appropriate decision on the petition by Abdullahi Gomel who is a sitting Senator, while the case of Yusuf Shittu Galanbi for Jigawa Central has been overtaken by INEC guideline.

  • Kaduna APC primaries: Shehu Sani offered me N10m bribe, Electoral Committee chair alleges

    The Chairman of the APC Electoral Panel which presided over the party’s recent primaries in Kaduna State, Mr. Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, has alleged that Senator Shehu Sani offered him a bribe to get an affirmation for his controversial  automatic ticket.

    Mr. Iduoriyekemwen dropped the bombshell while responding to questions over allegations that the committee was bribed to skew the primary election results in favour of some aspirants of the APC in the state.

    Iduoriyekemwen said: “The only person in Kaduna State who offered me money was Senator Shehu Sani through one of my comittee members, to inform me that N10m gift was set aside for the committee chairman, and I said we didn’t need the money, asking them what the money was for.

    “Even after the primaries, before the announcement  of results, Senator Shehu and his men put pressure on us to come and take the money.  He called me several times but we made it clear to him that we didn’t  need cash inducement  at all.”

    The electoral panel chairman also disclosed that the incumbent  Kaduna Central Senator made last-minute efforts to get him to accept the offer  to no avail.

    Iduoriyekemwen, who is also a former Majority  Leader of Edo State House of Assembly and one-time board member of the Niger-Delta Development Commission(NDDC) also expressed readiness to forward the telephone number of his committee member through  whom the pledge of N10m offer was announced to the leadership of the panel.

    The Electoral Panel Chairman also expressed satisfaction with the manner in which the election was conducted, describing it as “peaceful, orderly  and rancour-free”.

    Contacted on the telephone by our correspondent, a member of the APC Electoral Committee, Mr. Akeem Okedara, also denied the allegation that the committee was bribed to skew the primary election results in favour of some aspirants of the APC in the state.

    “There was nothing like that. It was Shehu Sani who wanted to give us something but we turned it down,” he said.

    However, in a swift reaction, Senator Sani described the allegation against him as “frivolous and mischievous.”

    Speaking through his media aide, Abdulsamad Chima Amadi, Senator Sani said: “Our attention has been drawn to a mischievous and frivolous news making the rounds that the chairman of the Kaduna APC electoral panel purportedly claimed he was offered financial inducements by Senator Shehu Sani.

    “The committee chairman probably had a dream to that effect. It is laughable for him to claim an aspirant who was the sole candidate cleared in Kaduna central offered him financial inducements.

    “First of all, Senator Shehu Sani virtually had no rival in the primaries. He was the only person cleared. So what does he need to bribe the committee for?

    “Secondly, when the committee and the state government connived to stage a fake senatorial primaries in Kaduna State, Senator Shehu Sani made it cristal clear that he was not going to participate in the so called primaries because it was an illegality.

    So when you look at it  from all angles, Senator Shehu Sani had no reasons whatsoever to bribe the committee.

    “Senator Shehu Sani is a distinguished and law abiding citizen who has over the years earned a good name for himself through his uncompromising stance against corruption.

    “It is obvious that some desperate politicians who have become synonymous with failure are behind these baseless and frivolous accusations.

    “Just like all their attempts to malign, frame up, intimidate and harm Senator Shehu in the past failed, this one too has failed on arrival.

    “No amount of blackmail will deter or destract Senator Shehu Sani. We stand by the mandate given to him by the APC and good people of Kaduna Central and, as usual, that mandate shall be put to good use for the betterment of our people.”

     

  • You disobeyed your own court order, Shehu Sani tells rival Uba sani

    The last may not have been heard of the tussle between Senator Shehu Sani and his rival, Uba Sani for the APC ticket for the Kaduna Central Senatorial seat as the Senator has accused his rival of going against the court he obtained stopping the party from conducting primary in the Senatorial district.

    Counsel to the Senator, Barrister Awwal Marafa said the purported conduct of the Senatorial primary in which Uba Sani was declared winner was null and void as the court obtained by Uba Sani has not been vacated and cannot be vacated before October 15 when the case comes up.

    He said evidences abound that Uba is not an aspirant of the party since he was.not cleared to contest the primary prior to his obtaining an order of court to maintain status quo pending the determination of the suit.

    Barrister Marafa said that official documents from the party signed by the National Chairman and official press statement signed by the Acting National Publicity Secretary does not contain the name of Uba Sani as a cleared aspirant to contest the primary, adding that there has been official statement from the party to counter the first one.

    He said further that the APC official website where names of aspirants are published does not contain the name of Uba Sani as one of those cleared to contest the primary, adding that “Uba Sani rushed to Kaduna High Court on October 3 and got a ruling to stop Central Senatorial primary until the hearing of the case on October 15 2018.

    Read Also: Fayose sues EFCC for N20b over security watch list

    Yet Uba Sani and possibly Governor ElRufai violated their court order without withdrawing the case and blackmailed and forced the Electoral Panel to conduct the primary in violation of their court order.

    Conducting a primary election in violation of a substantive court order renders the process and the result invalid. In the APC rules, Uba is neither an aspirant nor a candidate because he was never cleared to contest. By law, Uba cannot claim to be an aspirant or a candidate by violating a substantive court order he obtained without following due process of withdrawing the case which can only happen on the 15th of October.

    “By the party constitution, Uba Sani standard automatically expelled from.the party foe taking the national Chairman and the party to court without exploring internal mechanism for resolution. The result sheet of the primaries conducted by the panel in violation of the party standing rules and in violation of a subsisting court order is a nulity”

  • Buhari never authorised El-Rufai to punish Shehu Sani – Presidency

    The Presidency has distanced President Muhammadu Buhari from a letter in circulation, which alleged that the President had authorised Gov. Nasir el-Rufai to “deal with traitors and disloyal members of APC, especially Sen. Shehu Sani.

    Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.

    According to the presidential aide, the president is not aware of any such letter, let alone authorising anyone to deal with any party member.

    The statement read: “The presidency wishes to distance President Muhammadu Buhari from a letter currently in circulation, which alleges that the President had authorized a governor or anyone else for that matter to deal with traitors and disloyal members of APC, especially Senator Shehu Sani.

    “We wish to confirm that the president is not aware of any such letter, let alone authorising anyone to deal with any party member.

    “Given President Buhari’s record, it is inconceivable that he would usurp the role of the party leaders and instruct anyone to punish a party member.

    “In the light of above, we would like to appeal to the general public, especially members of the press, to ignore false or unauthorised information intended to attribute to the president any action which is not in line with his character.’’

    It would be recalled that Gov. El-Rufai of Kaduna State had last week visited the Presidential villa twice over political developments in his state.

    El-Rufai, who vehemently opposed the decision of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) to clear Sen. Shehu Sani as the sole candidate in the race for APC-Kaduna Central, said the fate of the senator “lies in the hands of the party delegates in the state”.

    The national body of the APC had on Sunday reiterated that Sani remained its only senatorial candidate from Kaduna Central.

    The Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Yekini Nabena, confirmed this in an interview with the NAN in Abuja.(NAN)

  • Shehu Sani loses primary, as El-Rufai’s aide, Uba Sani, clinches APC ticket

    •Police bar journalists from venue

    Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) yesterday lost the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He lost the party’s ticket to the Special Adviser to Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai on Political Affairs, Malam Uba Sani.

    There has been no love lost between Sani and El-Rufai with the governor believed to be bent on denying the senator a return ticket to the upper chamber.

    The governor’s aide, who has the blessings of his principal, scored 2,088 votes to the senator’s 15.

    Chairman of the Primary Election Committee and a national official of the party, Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, declared Sani as winner.

    Former Kaduna North Local Government Council Caretaker chairman, Usman Ibrahim, came second with 129 votes.

    Shehu Sani’s predecessor in the Senate, Gen. Mohammed Sani Saleh, scored 55 votes while Shamsudeen Giwa polled six votes.

    Iduoriyekemwen said a total of 2,383 voters were accredited while there were 35 invalid votes.

    Some security personnel barred journalists from covering the election in Zaria, Kaduna State.

    The primary election held despite the automatic ticket offered the incumbent by the national secretariat of the party.

    But the senator distanced himself from the exercise, which held at the Umar Musa Yar’Adua Hall, Murtala Square, Kaduna.

    In a statement by his Special Assistant Media, Abdulsamad Amadi, Sani said he was not participating in what he described as an ‘illegality’.

    According to him, “The office of Senator Shehu Sani has not, and will not send anybody as their representative or agent to that illegality that some desperate people are organising.

    “This is because the national leadership of the APC has not scheduled any senatorial primaries in Kaduna central on Saturday.

    “Consequently, anybody that goes there does so at his or her own freewill and does not in any way represent the interest of Sen Shehu Sani.”

    Despite his stance, our correspondent, who was at the venue of the election, observed Sani’s name featured among the five aspirants contesting the party’s ticket for the senatorial seat.

    According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the team of journalists who converged on the venue of the primary election were completely denied access by the security personnel.

    The journalists used all persuasive means to get entry including parading their identity cards and making phone calls to some senior police officers but to no avail.

    The team of security personnel headed by one Fom D. Moses who was said to be the Divisional Police Officer, Samaru Division said he had received instructions not to allow journalists entry.

    When asked whether the Constitution prevents journalists from covering such events, he said:: “I should be very careful or else the politicians will indict me, I fear the politicians more than the journalists.

    “If somebody said I shouldn’t allow you in, then I shouldn’t,” Moses said.

    Efforts by the journalists to get the Kaduna State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Yakubu Sabo to intervene did not yield result, as the police officer refused to speak with him on phone.

    Moses said: “I can’t pick his (PPRO) call because I am his senior by rank, I cannot receive directive from him.”

    However, the PPRO pleaded with journalists to be calm and pledged to get back to the journalists after making contact with his superiors.

     

  • Uba Sani picks APC Kaduna Central Senatorial ticket

    Uba Sani, the Special Adviser to Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai on Political and Intergovernmental Affairs, has picked the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for Kaduna Central Senatorial District.

    Sani polled 2,088 votes to defeat incumbent Sen. Shehu Sani, who got 15 votes, and three other aspirants.

    Prof. Eddie Floyd-Igbo, the APC Coordinator for the Kaduna Central Senatorial Zone, declared the results of the primaries held at Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Sports Multipurpose Hall, Kaduna, on Saturday.

    But the APC National Working Committee (NWC) had earlier cleared Sen. Shehu Sani as the sole candidate in the race, which was resisted by the other aspirants and party loyalists in the state.

    Meanwhile, Sani who is Chairman, Senate Committee on Domestic and Foreign Debts, had earlier announced his withdrawal from the primaries.

    In a statement issued by his Media Aide, Mr Abdulsamad Amadi, Sani said the exercise was illegal.

    “The Office of Senator Shehu Sani has not, and will not send anybody as their representative or agent to that illegality that some desperate people are organising.

    “This is because the national leadership of the APC has not scheduled any senatorial primaries in Kaduna Central today.

    “Consequently, anybody that goes there does so at his or her own freewill and does not in any way represent the interest of Sen. Shehu Sani.

    “The Senator and his team are law abiding citizens and loyal party members who will always obey the directives of the National leadership of our great party,” the statement said.

    Meanwhile, Floyd-Igbo announced that one of the aspirants Usman Ibrahim got 129 votes in the primaries.

    He also said Sen. Sani Saleh, who served Kaduna Central people in the Senate from 2011 to 2015 got 55 votes.

    Another contestant, Mr Shamsudeen Shehu, got six votes, while 45 votes were declared invalid.

    He said 2,383 voters were accredited from seven local government areas of the zone for the primary election.

    Meanwhile, INEC has reminded all participants that it would only accept candidates forwarded to it by the national secretariats of the political parties.

    The electoral body also gave the parties up till Oct. 7 to submit their candidates for the 2019 general elections. (NAN)

  • Kaduna APC adopts indirect primaries

    …Senator Shehu Sani, others kick

     

    Kaduna State Chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has risen from its State Executive Committee (SEC) meeting and adopted indirect primaries for all its primary elections.

    The only APC Senator from Kaduna State, Shehu Sani however kicked against the decision, saying “I don’t agree to indirect primaries”.

    For the first time since his suspension by the party in 2016, Senator Sani was in attendance at the party’s SEC meeting and was sighted exchanging banters with the Deputy Governor, Arch. Barnabas Bala Bantex.

    Briefing newsmen shortly after the SEC meeting of its resolution, the state chairman of the party, Air Cdre Emmanuel K. Jekada said, “direct primaries method is not applicable in the state.”

    According to Jekada, “The Kaduna State Executive Committee (SEC) in line with the directives of the National Executive Committee (NEC), sat today and adopted “Indirect Primary” as the mode of conduct of the party primary elections in Kaduna state.

    “The ‘Direct Primary method’ is not applicable in the State due to the following reasons: Absence of a comprehensive register of party members; the APC Kaduna party leadership has made spirited attempts to acquire a comprehensive database of party members from the party’s National Headquarters but to no avail.

    “Without a comprehensive membership register, any direct primaries may be disrupted by non-members including individuals from other parties who may come up with fake membership cards to cause confusion in the process.

    “Experience of Direct Primaries from the recently concluded primary elections for councillorship in state where the party adopted direct primaries to select its candidates was marred by significant disruption and controversy and over stretched the security agencies. Using this mode for the upcoming primary elections would definitely not produce the desired results and its credibility may be called to question.

    “The Direct primary method would result in significant logistic challenges for the party; with party membership running into hundreds of thousands in the state, printing of ballots, deployment of election materials, accreditation, voting, collation and declaration of results would be very expensive with financial cost surpassing a billion naira in Kaduna alone. These are costs that the party may not be able to shoulder in view of the fact that it was not envisaged, and no budget provision has been made for it.

    “In order to deepen and broaden the democratic practice, the party looks forward to the adoption of direct primaries in future elections at which time the limitations listed above would have been resolved.

    “Therefore, in recognition of 2a-c above, the State Executive Committee adopted the ‘Indirect’ mode of primaries for nomination of candidates in the 2019 elections in the state. This decision will accordingly be communicated to the National Executive Committee of the party as required.” He stressed.

    Read Also: 2019: Rivers APC adopts indirect primaries

    Meanwhile, Senator Sani and his predecessor in the Senate, General Mohammed Sani Saleh while addressing journalists at the NUJ secretariat after the meeting said, the decision of the SEC is not final, as they, as aspirants have equally submitted their position in favour of Direct Primaries to the national secretariat of the party.

    According to Senator Sani, “The party has just concluded the state executive committee meeting at which they read out a resolution that they prefer the indirect method in the forthcoming primary elections. Well, that is the state’s position and not the final say, national headquarters required that every states executive committees must submit a written request signed by state’s executive committee members, critical stakeholders as well as aspirants to various offices in the state.

    “So far out of these three categories of people, the state executive committee has taken its own stand, its left for critical stakeholders and aspirants to state their own position on this matter. And as an aspirant to the office of senator for Kaduna central senatorial district, I do not agree to indirect method of conducting the primaries because of obvious reasons.

    “One of the reasons is the manner in which the congresses were conducted. It was conducted in such a way that certain individuals were given the opportunity to select the entire executive members from every wards and LGA in the state. It was not free and fair so I don’t think I will be doing justice to myself, to subject myself to general election under that condition.

    “The safest, fairest and best thing is for us to throw this thing open if you are not afraid of the people that you are aspiring to represent, subject yourself to election by them,” he said.

  • 2019: Sen. Sani urges APC leadership to jettison indirect primaries

    A National Assembly member, Sen. Shehu Sani, has urged leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) to jettison indirect primary elections, describing it as “breeding ground for corruption in the country’s democracy”.

    He stated this after submitting a petition to the party’s National Chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, in Abuja on Tuesday.

    The petition is on the imperative of adopting direct primaries to nominate its candidates that will contest the 2019 general elections.

    Sani said the petition was sequel to the debate that came up after the APC sixth National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting adopted indirect primaries to elect its candidates for the forthcoming elections.

    He said that indirect primaries was a ploy to use public funds in bribing delegates to toe a pre-determined line of action.

    The lawmaker, who represents Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the Senate, also described indirect primaries as “a factory for producing stooges and a labour room for corrupt practices’’.

    He urged the party’s leadership to deal with political corruption by eliminating indirect primaries.

    “The delegate system, otherwise called indirect primaries, will rely on the whims and caprices of the few that now control the party after emerging from ward, local government and state congresses.

    “The congresses that have been widely rejected by party members as a sham.

    “We are particularly in opposition to indirect primaries because of the weakening effects of its corruptive tendencies.

    “The entire process begins and ends with vote-buying, and as it is always the case, where the will of the electorate is subverted, the best candidates for the task ahead, never gets recruited.

    “It is our humble opinion that the forthcoming 2019 general election is too crucial for the APC and Kaduna state.

    “It is too strategic for us to confront the array of near formidable candidates of the opposition with anything less than our very best candidates,” he said.

    Sani maintained that “indirect primaries stand as direct antithesis to the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to fight corruption at all levels.

    According to him, APC having promoted the change mantra must shine the light onto those dark places in the country’s electoral system where ill-gotten wealth is used to subvert the will of the electorate.

    He said that ill-gotten wealth was also used to perpetrate “the vicious circle of corruption, bad governance and weak and dysfunctional institutions and processes’’.

    Sani pointed out that the proponents of indirect primaries, particularly the Kaduna state governor, were relying on the pretext that the current security situation in their respective states made direct primaries impracticable and risky.

    This proposition, the senator said, out-rightly contradicted the claims by Gov. Nasir el-Rufai that Kaduna state had overcome his security challenges.

    He emphasised that direct primaries were the most transparent means through which the most popular candidates emerged and won general elections on the APC platform in Kaduna state. (NAN)