A former Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has said that ex-Governor Nasir El-Rufai is paying the price of his alleged misgovernance and irresponsibility while in office.
Sani stated this on Friday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Reacting to El-Rufai’s current travails, Sani said being out of power naturally comes with losing friends and seeing things differently.
“I have been in the gulag for a very long time, but it is natural. When you are out of circulation, you are bound to lose friends and you are bound to see things differently from the way you used to,” he said.
“El-Rufai is paying the price of his misgovernance and his irresponsibility when he was in public office. I have had a lot of comments from people expressing sympathy for him, but my own is this: When you are in office, always remind yourself that it is an opportunity, and it is a very temporary opportunity for you.”
Sani accused El-Rufai of having no respect for the rule of law while in office and disobeying court orders.
“He was in office; he had no respect for the law. He did not obey court orders. He arrested many people and sent them to jail, and today he has found himself in the very place where he took so many people,” he said.
According to him, Kaduna witnessed a lot of misgovernance and use of state power to attack opponents between 2015 and 2023.
“From 2015 to 2023, we saw a lot of misgovernance, irresponsible leadership and the use of statecraft to attack and jail opponents in Kaduna,” he stated.
Sani listed several cases to buttress his claim, including the arrest of Vanguard correspondent, Luka Binyat, who he said spent almost a year in prison for writing a report.
“There was Luka Binyat, who was a correspondent of Vanguard newspaper. For writing a piece, the government of El-Rufai arrested him and sent him to jail, where he stayed for almost a year,” he said.
He also cited the case of 89 community leaders from Kachia Local Government who, according to him, were arrested after protesting the killing of their leader and spent over nine months in Kaduna Prison.
He added that Islamic clerics from Zaria who prayed after being retrenched from the Kaduna civil service, a lecturer at Kaduna State University, John Youngfly, and a reporter with Leadership newspaper, Maida Joseph, were also arrested and jailed for criticising the government.
He further alleged that members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) remained in detention for six to seven years under trial for murder charges after many of them were killed.
On insecurity in Southern Kaduna, Sani faulted those defending El-Rufai, saying most commentators have never visited the affected areas.
“I went through the comments of people about what General Musa said, and if you look at it, 80 per cent of those who are commenting have never been to Southern Kaduna. They don’t know where Sanga is, where Kauru is, where Kachia is, where Kagarko is, where Banchiki is, where Kufana and Ozan Kuzeta are. So, they only read what they read on the pages of newspapers,” he said.
“But it is a fact that terrorists and bandits have been killing people in Southern Kaduna for over a decade without any intervention from the state government. Not only in Southern Kaduna. In Central Kaduna, where I come from, the state government did nothing.”
He accused the El-Rufai administration of failing to support security agencies.
“There was never a time when the government led by Nasir El-Rufai provided support for the police, the Army or the Civil Defence, or took any serious measure to end or stop that violence,” he said.
Sani also recalled that Luka Binyat was jailed for exposing an alleged payment to bandits by the state government.
“He was arrested by the former governor and sent to Kaduna Prison on the basis that he exposed the fact that the Kaduna State Government was paying bandits. It came from the leak of the former governor that they paid bandits not to kill,” he alleged.
He questioned the sympathy being expressed for El-Rufai.
“He’s used to all these gimmicks, and we’re used to it in Kaduna. All these people who are saying that he’s persecuted, he’s been sent to prison – where were they when he was arresting people and sending them to prison in Kaduna? When he has never, for once, obeyed the court of law in Kaduna. When he has no respect for the rule of law. Where are all those people?” he queried.
Sani praised Governor Uba Sani, describing him as the best thing to happen to Kaduna State for building peace between Northern and Southern Kaduna.
“Uba Sani is the best thing that has happened to Kaduna State at this time, for the fundamental reason that he has been able to use the resources of the state for the betterment of the lives of the people in this state,” he said.
“For the first time, we have a governor who was able to build a bridge of peace between those of us Hausa Muslims from Northern Kaduna and the Christians from the Southern part of the state. There has not been any ethno-religious violence. No Muslim killing Christian, no Christian killing Muslim.”
“He brought in people from Southern Kaduna and gave them appointments in his government. He treated everyone equally, and now he even has a Christian as a deputy governor. This is a divergence from the toxic government we had from 2015 to 2023 under the former governor. So, Uba is fantastic. He is doing a good job, and we are blessed.”
He predicted that Governor Uba Sani would be re-elected.
“Uba, by the grace of Allah, will be re-elected as governor of Kaduna State. Not just a prayer, but practically, he has done so many things for the people of Kaduna. His interventions in health, education and infrastructure, and he has been able to create a good working relationship and a conducive atmosphere for people, and given people of all religions and all ethnic groups a fair sense of belonging,” Sani added.
On President Bola Tinubu’s decision to have Vice President Kashim Shettima represent him at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Sani said the President acted within his constitutional rights.
“That is why you need a Vice President who is able, competent, brilliant, and capable of delivering the message in your absence. So it’s natural for the opposition to raise eyebrows and to raise issues, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but in every sense, the constitution of the country enables and empowers the President to send his Vice President to represent him, and still the message is delivered.
“After all, UNGA is to most extent a talk show where you go to express the position of your country and then you speak to the world and then you see opportunities to sign deals and then come back home,” he said.
Sani also expressed confidence that President Tinubu would win in Northern Nigeria in 2027 and spoke on the reported raw materials deal with the United States, saying if Nigeria signed it, it was to placate America.
