Sen. Sani will continue to criticise Gov. el-Rufai’s - Aide

Malam Suleiman Ahmed, the Special Assistant to Sen. Shehu Sani (APC- Kaduna), on Politics and Ideology, says nothing will deter his principal from criticising the “anti-people” policies of the state government.

Shehu Sani

Ahmed stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) in Kaduna on Tuesday while reacting to the alleged suspension of the senator by the Tudun Wada North, Ward 6 of APC.

The party at the ward level had in a letter dated Dec. 7 and signed by the party’s Ward Secretary, Malam Ahmed Abdullahi; the Public Relations Officer, Malam Auwal Anguwa; and an Ex-Officio member, Malam Aminu Alilan, suspended Sani for 11 months.

The letter said that Sani was suspended for consistently criticising the policies of Gov. Nasir el-Rufai, an act which the APC ward executives described as “anti-party”.

The aide said that the suspension would only strengthen his principal’s resolve to criticise any policy of the el-Rufai administration that he considered “anti-people”.

“This letter is not relevant; it has no value to us; this letter will energise him the more; it will strengthen his resolve to criticise the government of the state if it goes wrong.

“The senator will continuously criticise any (government) policy that is anti-people up to the end of (his tenure in) the Senate and beyond.

“So if you feel that the senator should not criticise the government of the day because he is part of the party that brought the current government to power, then when he comes out to re-contest in 2019, do not vote for him.

“He will criticise the government, whether or not he comes back as a senator in 2019.

“This is because Sani has been consistent in his criticism of anti-democratic processes and elements; he did not start his criticism (in the current) democratic (dispensation).

“He has been doing criticism anti-people policies right from the military era. That’s what has taken caused his imprisonment on several occasions.”

The aide said that the senator would consider seeking legal redress if served with a genuine suspension letter in line with standard procedure.

He explained that the ward executives had invited the senator to the ward office to defend himself against some allegations levelled against him.

According to him, barely 24 hours after receiving the invitation, the ward office of the party sent a suspension letter to him.

He said, “This is a clear violation of standard procedure in line with the party’s constitution, which renders the letter invalid.”

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the party in Makarfi Local Government Area, Malam Tukur Abba, has condemned the alleged suspension of Sani.

Speaking at a news conference in Kaduna, Abba said that due process was not followed in the purported suspension of the senator.

“We are at the executive committee level of the party. Who is the complainant? What is the nature of the complaint? Who is the alleged offender?

“Is the action in compliance with the provision of the party’s constitution? Is the state executive committee properly constituted to carry out the purported action?

“Is this action not the handiwork of few members of the State Working Committee members purporting to act as a superior body to the State Executive Committee?

“I am sure majority of the above questions will be answered in the negative. I therefore, disassociate myself from whatever decision taken.”

Sen. Sani will continue to criticise Gov. el-Rufai’s - Aide

IBB, Abacha, Jonathan, others responsible for North problems – Sani

The President, Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, Mallam Shehu Sani, has said that 70 per cent of problems bedeviling the North are caused by ex-presidents and leaders of northern extraction.

The remaining 30 per cent, Sani said, should be attributed to President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration’s sectional leadership and neglect of the North.

The CRCN boss described as a “waste” the number of years ex-heads of state and presidents of northern extraction had piloted the affairs of Nigeria.

He argued that they had not only failed to empower the region but ruined it educationally, socially as well as economically.

He said the past leaders such as Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Shehu Shagari, Generals Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, the late Sani Abacha, Abdulsalami Abubakar, as well as the late Umaru Yar’Adua, all from the region only left behind trails of poverty, discords among the people of diverse faiths and ethnicity rather than development.

Sani, who is aspiring for the seat of the Kaduna Central Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, argued that President Jonathan only compounded the woes of the region while past leaders of the North simply left a region whose future was in doubt.

The activist said this while addressing sacked and unpaid workers of textile industries in the North who gathered on the premises of the Kaduna Textile Limited, in Kaduna State on Saturday.

He added that the President only empowered the people of the South-South on the detriment of other citizens of the country.

He said, “70 per cent of the North is destroyed by northern leaders and 30 per cent is being destroyed by Jonathan. We must take the blame and must tell ourselves the truth. Northern leaders had the opportunity to industrialise, to educate and to uplift the social standard of the region but they left behind a trail of poverty, of discord among people of diverse faiths and ethnic affinities.

“They left behind a region backward educationally and industrially. They left behind a region whose future is in doubt. For over three decades when northerners were in power they used the opportunity to empower traditional rulers and some religious leaders as well as making the rich, richer and pauperised the common man.

“They were not able to do what Jonathan is doing by empowering the young and the Niger Delta militants who are being enriched today. It was a wasted opportunity which I believe should serve as a lesson next time when power is back to the region.”

While condemning the insurgency in the North, Sani noted that the only way out of the current challenges in the region was for its leaders to embark on rapid revival of its industries, agricultural sector as well as to harness the resources of the region, rather than over-depending on federal allocations.

He said, “I must at this junction condemn the ongoing violence in northern part of the country. This act of terror and the discord between the Muslims and Christians and the backwardness of the region must stop.

“We are concern that the northern part of Nigeria is today becoming a theatre of violence and mindless killings. If there are functional industries, educational system and leadership, the North could not have been where it is today.”

Earlier in his address, the General Secretary of the Coalition of Closed and Unpaid Textile Workers Association, Kaduna State, Mr. Ishar Iorngulum, had said the workers had decided to queue behind the candidature of Sani to become the next senator representing the Kaduna Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly in 2015.

He also said that they would mobilize their colleagues in other parts of the North to vote against some leaders in the region in the 2015 general elections.

Iorngulum, “It is the irresponsibility of the northern governors that led to the collapse of the textile industries in the North so we will vote against them in 2015 elections.”

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IBB, Abacha, Jonathan, others responsible for North problems – Sani