#politics : Shehu Sani Vs Nasir El-Rufai: Kaduna APC About To Step In And Make A Blunder

Kaduna Central Senator Shehu Sani may be harbouring 2019 governorship ambitions. He thinks the world of himself and believes that if he had decided to run against Gov. Nasir El-Rufai in the Kaduna APC governorship primary last year, he would have beaten the governor...


In all of Sen. Sani's criticisms against the governor since they both were sworn into office this year, the governor has not publicly fired back, preferring to ignore the senator's rants. But if there's anything we know about Gov El-Rufai, it is that he knows how to keep and settle a score (READ his magnum opus, The Accidental Public Servant, for details).

Now it seems the governor and his loyalists in the state APC are ready to push back and slam the hammer on the balding senator's head.

But they would be making a mistake. That level of public attention may be the oxygen the senator has been craving.

The party wrote a letter to Sen. Sani last Wednesday inviting him to appear within seven days before a disciplinary committee set up by acting Chairman, Shuaibu Idris to clear himself over a so-called "anti-party" stand.

Party spokesman, Salisu Tanko Wusono, expressed displeasure yesterday that the Senator has refused to accept the letter. If Sani doesn't appear before the disciplinary committee within the stipulated time, the APC scribe says he would "face the wrath of the party."

The party's position is disturbing. So what if the senator wants to criticise the governor? As a citizen and a senator for that matter, it's within his rights to do that.

In the United States where campaigning is going on in earnest towards the 2016 presidential polls, one of the front runners in the Republican side is a senator called Ted Cruz, whose entire strategy seems to be built around taking on his own party's establishment. On the floor of the senate during a debate, he called the party's senate leader "a liar" and accused him of working for the Democrats. He has made similar allegations against the recently retired speaker, John Boehner. Yet Cruz continues to be a favourite for the Republican ticket and the party has not set up a "disciplinary committee". They are letting ordinary Republican voters decide. That shouldn't be too hard for the APC and loyalists of Gov. El-Rufai to do.

Sani, on his part, has said he rejected the letter from the party because he does not know the person who signed it.

"If the address of the party office in Kaduna he knew has been changed, Senator Shehu Sani was supposed to be informed, in the same vein if the acting chairman was appointed, he should have been notified," said Sen. Sani's senior assistant, Political and Ideology, Comrade Suleiman Ahmed.

Sani also said that he believes the two officers inviting him are mere extensions of government house and accused El-Rufai of sponsoring them to suspend him out of fear of his overwhelming popularity and performance.

"From now till 2019, Senator Shehu Sani will continue to challenge any El-Rufai policy suspected or adjudged to be anti masses," Suleiman Ahmed said.

When contacted via phone to speak on the matter, Senator Shehu, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign and local debts, said his invitation was just a cooked plan to smear his good name.

"It is obvious that some persons within corridors of power have hands in this purported invitation," Sani maintained.