By John Shiklam in Kaduna
The leadership of the Kaduna State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Kaduna Central senatorial zone have rejected the directive of the national secretariat of the party, quashing the suspension of Senator Shehu Sani from the party, insisting that the suspension is irreversible.
The ruling party in Sani’s Ward 6, Tudun Wada, Kaduna, had last week placed the senator on indefinite suspension, and demanded an apology from him to President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Nasir El-Rufai and the party for alleged disparaging words and for working against the party.
But in a statement yesterday by the Acting National Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr. Yekini Nabena, the national leadership of the party cancelled the senator’s suspension and directed the chairman of the party in Tudun Wada ward and others to implement the directive.
The party said the implementation of the directive would complement the peace efforts being made by the national leadership of the party to bring back peace to the party in Kaduna State
“The national secretariat has received the news of the suspension of Senator Sani by the Tudun Wada ward chairman and wish to clarify that the purported suspension of the senator representing Kaduna Central senatorial district is hereby lifted and is confirmed as a bonafide member and leader of our party. The Chairman of Kaduna State chapter has been directed to inform the relevant ward and local government chapters appropriately, and also put the necessary mechanism towards complementing the efforts of the national leadership towards ensuring lasting peace and unity in the party,” the acting national publicity secretary said.
However, in a response to the directive, the senatorial zone, comprising the zonal executives, chairmen of the party in the seven local government areas of the zone, as well as some officials of the state executive, in a statement yesterday, insisted that there was no going back on Sani’s indefinite suspension from the party.
The statement was jointly signed by the Zonal Chairman of the party, Mr. Aminu Jibo; Assistant State Secretary, Mr. Yahaya Pate; Zonal Women Leader, Mr. Tabawa Inuwa, and the State Assistant Publicity Secretary, Mr. Salisu Wusono, among other officials.
“We are the executives of Zone 2, along with the seven APC local government chairmen of Kaduna North, Kaduna South, lgabi, Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Chikun, Kajuru. We have been following, with keen interest, the dirty political antics of Shehu Sani, the current senator representing Zone 2 at the National Assembly, and wish to set the records straight by affirming he is still under indefinite suspension by Kaduna State leadership of our great party” the statement said.
It accused Sani of alleged “gross misconduct, including series of damaging media campaign both against party leaders and the APC led government in Kaduna State.
“We would like to express our disappointment over the senator’s glaring political desperation that led him into disparaging President Buhari in the media, thereby ridiculing the image of this country and its democratic institutions. We are therefore, joining other genuinely loyal members of our great party to advice our amiable president to be wary of a Senator who so ceaselessly attacked federal government and its policies very frequently.
“We wish to note that despite the huge, dirty media campaign he has launched against the president and Governor El-Rufai, the senator did not deem it fit to apologise to President Buhari, El-Rufai or the disenchanted people of the zone he is supposedly representing.
“Instead, he has remained more desperate, unrepentant and indeed opportunistic. Clearly, Senator Sani is today the APC’s biggest time-bomb, as we approach 2019 elections.
“We still question the motive behind Shehu Sani’s sabotage against the $350million loan meant to give Kaduna State a befitting outlook by the El-Rufai administration…
“Clearly, the senator rode on the back of President Buhari and El-Rufai to get to the Senate and turned round to stab them on the back, so brazenly. This is the height of irresponsibility and we dare say it is one of the many reasons that have now exposed him as a regrettable choice for Zone 2 electorate and Kaduna State APC.
“We reject in totality, Shehu Sani’s obtuse politics, fake democratic credentials and pedestrian approach to lawmaking that has undermined the hopes and expectations of Zone 2 voters.
“We also find unacceptable, the false flag of allegiance he is pretending to be flying in the guise of an APC loyalist. While he cannot mislead President Buhari, he cannot also pull blind wool over our eyes, pretending he is with us, just because the 2019 elections is approaching.”
The state executive of the party also declared that the suspension of Sani was irreversible.
In a separate statement yesterday in Kaduna, the state Assistant Publicity Secretary of the party, Wusono, said the APC in the state would not sacrifice its cohesion, discipline and unity for political expediency.
Condemning the lifting of suspension on Sani by the national secretariat, state branch maintained that the constitution of the APC does not bestow any powers on the National Secretariat of the party to quash the decisions of the ward, local government and state executives of the party.
It said, “Therefore, we affirm the indefinite suspension of Shehu Sani for serial indiscipline and violations of the party constitution and further clarify that the constitution of our party does not bestow any powers on the national headquarters to quash the decisions of the Ward, Local government and state executives of the party.
“You cannot join the party at your ward level, proceed to treat the same party with utmost contempt for three years, then delude yourself into a belief that the national headquarters can now declare you a saint and impose you on the state party!”
It said the party would not condone the opportunism of people who, having used the APC to get to the Senate and began rebelling against it as soon as they got to Abuja.
The state branch recalled that since 2015, Sani had engaged in unrelenting hostility towards the APC, joining the gang-up against the party in the Senate.
According to the branch, “At the national level, the utterances in which he has ridiculed the party and President Buhari are well-chronicled. In Kaduna State, Senator Sani has since July 2015 opposed everything the APC and the government it installed has tried to do.”
Sani refused to defect to the PDP like other APC National Assembly members following the peace moves initiated by the National Chairman of the APC, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole.
