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 apologize 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.
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