Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central) has
disclosed that he dropped his ambition for the
Kaduna State governorship seat after party
chieftains pressed him to step down for Malam
Nasir el-Rufai because he was President
Muhammadu Buhari’s choice candidate.
In an exclusive chat with LEADERSHIP Friday, he
also revealed that his present rift with the
governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-
Rufai, is purely ideological.
Sani, who paid a courtesy visit to the corporate
head office of the media house yesterday,
stated that he stepped down for el-Rufai for
the gubernatorial ticket of his party, the All
Progressives Congress (APC), due to pressures
from politicians and stakeholders in the state
who declared that el-Rufai was the preferred
candidate of President Buhari.
He said: “For the first time, let me tell you
some background issues in the political divide
in Kaduna. I never intended to contest for the
Senate; I wanted to contest for the
governorship and I opened offices in Zaria,
Kaduna and Kafanchan, and later there was
pressure on me that I should step down.
Politicians came to meet me; that I should step
down and allow el-Rufai to contest because
they said he was the favourite of the president.
“I pulled back and said I wanted to contest for
the Senate, but there was a sitting senator,
General Saleh, and I had to evict him during
the primary election. And I told them in black
and white that I didn’t have money to give any
delegate, and if they feel OK with my
principles, then let them vote for me, but if my
principles are not right for them, let them go
and vote for the same person (that was
occupying the seat); and they voted for me and
I removed an incumbent senator. So I didn’t
contest against a vacuum.”
According to him, when he got the Senate
ticket, there were two major candidates in the
Kaduna gubernatorial race, el-Rufai and Isa
Ashiru, and all the two had their senatorial
candidates; el-Rufai was with General Saleh and
Isa Ashiru was with Sani Suleiman, and one
other Sadiq Lagos.
He said: “I did not have any gubernatorial
candidate as far as I was concerned, and I now
thrashed the candidate of el-Rufai and Isa
Ashiru. The el-Rufai that won the gubernatorial
ticket in Kaduna won it with 1,000 and
something votes and I won one senatorial zone
with 920 votes. In three senatorial zone he got
1,600; I alone got 920 votes.
“If I had contested the governorship, there was
no way that I wouldn’t have emerged; it’s not
possible. So I sacrificed that and I contested the
Senate and I won. Reports going on in the
media is on the surface.”
He further averred that the Kaduna State
governor and he were different on the
ideological front.
Sani, a reputable social crusader all his life, also
remarked that the recent directive of the
governor, in which he directed that beggars
should leave the state, if not properly
managed, would lead to an implosion in
Kaduna.
He argued that the right conservative political
divide, to which the governor belonged,
created the socio-economic rot that produced
the beggars and the destitute in the society,
adding that its own solution to it, unfortunately,
was to clear them from the streets and portray
a semblance of sanity and normalcy.
“There is a clear idea logical difference
between el-Rufai and me. He is of the right
ultra conservative while I come from the left of
the political divide. The right conservative
political divide created the socio-economic rot
that produced the beggars and dregs in the
society; their own solution to it is to clear them
from the streets and portray a semblance of
sanity and normalcy.”
He further explained that one cannot solve a
socio-economic problem by hiding it under the
cupboard.
“My position is that the beggars, the
unemployed who have been parading our
streets, were byproducts of the socio-economic
problem which people what propagated his (e-
Rufai’s) own kind of ideology created in the
society, and in order to address such problems,
you first of all address the social iniquities that
produced them.
“Has he provided capital for those beggars to
start some useful things to do? He has not.
Have you given them accommodation where to
stay? No, he has not; and then the hawkers on
the street, did you give them an alternative on
what to do and where to go?
“All they want is to pack them and put them in
a truck and send them somewhere. Come to
Kaduna and see if that has worked: the beggars
are back to the streets; the hawkers are there;
all those things you want to clear are there and
it’s not working. We fundamentally differ on
that.”
On the issue of demolition of houses by the
governor, he said: “We came in and met a
people who had been impoverished, destroyed
and dehydrated by a ruling party for 16 years.
We came in because these poor people voted
for us. Most of the elite, on Election Day, didn’t
even come out. They (the poor) voted us into
power. They were given money by the PDP in
Kaduna but they refused. The women were
given fabrics, soap and rice; they refused and
voted us into power.
“Now if you are an experienced and sensible
administrator – and you promised education,
power and health, jobs, skill acquisition for
youths – how can you as an intelligent man say
the first priority is demolition of houses; and
all these houses were given by the previous
government. Now all of them have gone to
court and have gotten injunction.
“You didn’t clear a fallow land between Kaduna
and Zaria and say, ‘All of you, this is a place for
you and take this as compensation, and all of
you should move there. Abuja of 2007 is not
the same with Kaduna of 2015. In Abuja, you
were dealing with rich and powerful people
who had many houses and money. When you
see a man with a house in Kaduna, it may be
his last pension which he devoted to it.”

Source: leadership.ng/news/455257/why-i-stepped-down-for-el-rufai-sen-sani

Sani if you have any issue with Rufai s style of government please write him privately and leave the media out of it.
Don't distabilize a house you contributed to.

As from today henceforth, Niger Delta ceases to be part of the so-called Biafra. We don't support such failed course, the people of Biafra are too proud and greedy.
We say NO to biafra, click like if you support our stand and share if you think otherwise

Oya tell us why then

Thank God you did el-rufai is a better leader.

Let him go and tell river Niger this story for the ancestors. As for me , I have a bus to catch at 10 lol



Moreover, I GoT JuMmAT tO pREparE foR ... O se AaRo o JarE!

Cock and bull story

dont tell us why you stepped down , just tell how much he paid you...

I pray someone close your Account on here

This camel-sharing man has just b ranting up and down, El - rufai tried to move dem off d street n engage dem in vocational training so dat dey can be useful to demselves n to d society, but dis mumu prefers he leave dem there because d elites caused their problem, and secondly, d pictures of d houses he wants to demolish doesn't look like d house of a middle class not to talk of a common man