Senator Shehu Sani, the Senator Representing Kaduna Central has said he will remain with the ruling political party in Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress as long as Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, remains a member of the party.
Shehu Sani
Sani said this on Sunday in Kaduna after he commenced the distribution of 100,000 transistor radio sets in seven local government areas under his senatorial district.
According to him, he would remain in APC as long as President Buhari is still in the APC, “because Buhari is APC,” he said.
He told journalists that the national body of APC has already invalidated his suspension from the party and advised the two parties to avoid any form of attack and counter attack “I have instructed all my supporters and followers to abide by this, but unfortunately, some people are capitalizing on the crisis for their own monetary gains.
“I am saying it in clear terms that as far as I am concerned we would abide by what the national body says,” he said.
He said as Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Debt and also vice chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, he would continue to call on nations which Nigeria has diplomatic relations with to assist the fight on corruption by returning money looted from Nigeria.
Blunt, cerebral and sharp-witted, that is Senator Shehu Sani, the human rights activist turned politician. From the recent ministerial screening exercise at the Senate to some other contemporary issues, the Senator who represents Kaduna Central Senatorial zone in this interview speaks on why the Senate cleared former Rivers State governor, Chibuike Amaechi for Minister, describes Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state as an “Emperor.”
Cautioning President Muhammadu Buhari not to abandon the masses who voted the All Progressives Congress (APC) into power, Sani also frowns at some of the views of a former Central Bank Governor, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi concerning the nation’s economy.
APC overlooked morality issue over Amaechi
The decision of the Senate is more of partisanship than morality. Senators from both the PDP and APC had taken positions based on the exigent interest of their own political parties. As for the PDP Senators, the issues they brought at hand were that Amaechi had corruptly enriched himself in office and so, must be slapped.
Shehu Sani
But in the actual sense, they had grudges against him over the role he played in removing the PDP from power. As for the APC Senators, the moral question raised about Amaechi eligibility was suppressed and instead, the Senators took positions that are in line with the interest of the party. Posterity is the best judge of controversies.
Actually, Senators have a duty to confirm ministerial nominees, present the best and ensure that those who are going to serve have the right moral, ethical and professional qualifications to be in that office.
But we must say that it is possible that the future generation of Nigerians will challenge our position and will question our moral standing based on this very important issue. But politics is like a “war.”
You can use any means by which you are going to win. The APC sees Amaechi as one of its own, irrespective of the stains, dirt, allegations and moral burden that he may carry. On the other hand, the PDP is not against Amaechi because he is allegedly corrupt but because he worked against their party and poses an existential danger to the survival of the party.
Amaechi is a beneficiary of conflict of interest and a beneficiary of a political atmosphere that put forward partisan interest ahead of conscience and moral standing.
El-Rufai, distributing poverty in Kaduna
The problems between El-Rufai and me began during the primary elections. I was not his favourite candidate for the primary election because he had his own candidate who I defeated. He has now taken the position of empowering his own candidate to come over and fight me while grooming others who are all set to fight me.
The second aspect has to do with his style of governance. Many people say that as a politician, you are not permitted to speak against any of your own publicly. But I don’t believe in that. If you can speak out against your brother or sister, you can speak out against your neigbour and people with who you share the same religion, there is nothing wrong in speaking out against a person simply because he is from your political party.
Kaduna is today being presided over by a man who perceives himself as an Emperor. He has emasculated the political party. If you go the party headquarters in the state, nothing is happening there because he has appointed the leading members of the executive into his government and now, you don’t see anybody in the secretariat.
He has marginalized all those who struggled and fought to build the party in the state and made it possible for the party to win the general elections. He has also marginalized people who contested the elections with him. He has unleashed a style of governance that delivers no result other than hardship and pain on the ordinary people. He is out to experiment the Adam Smith’s School of Thought, on Kaduna.
All the steps he has taken are steps meant to enrich consultants, commissioned agents, the rich, contractors and middle men. His policies are not aimed at lifting the people out of poverty or unfolding people-oriented programmes. He has a conservative, capitalist and retrogressive world view. The world is moving east and he is insisting that we go west. So, I do not live on the same frequency with El-Rufai.
I am from the left wing of the political divide and he is from the right wing. My background is that of activism and his own background is that of an accidental civil servant and now the governor of the state. He has been out of Kaduna for over two decades and APC brought him back to Kaduna. He is so detached and disconnected from the people on the ground.
While governors from other states are building mass housing estates, El-Rufai wants to build a five star hotel, amusement parks and shopping malls in Kaduna. He wants to remove the destitute from the streets, hide them somewhere and create an impression that he has achieved. He has brought in an Abuja real estate mentality into Kaduna.
He wants to mortgage Kaduna to private property, private interest and private business consultants. I am disturbed about that. I do not support a man who will plunge our state into debt and erect monuments that will be credit to him and leave debt to our children and grand children to pay. I have issues with my own political relationship with him.
I have issues with his relationship with those who fought and struggled for us to win the elections and I also have issues with how he governs Kaduna State. He has alienated the workers, the political class, the religious leaders, both Muslims and Christians and he has alienated the youth and women. He governs the state through Twitter and Facebook accounts.
He runs an impressionable government that gives people outside the state an impression that he is building a Dubai in Kaduna but facts on the ground depict the contrary. You need to go and see what is happening there. The activities of government now run around the Government House.
The people are crying that he has imported experts to take over the affairs of the state. So, we are deeply concerned. We need to understand that in Kaduna, APC does not have total control of the state. APC has the northern and central Senatorial zones while the southern part of the state is still PDP. If we don’t take measures in winning the heart of the people, we will stand a serious danger in 2019 because the balance between the APC and the PDP in the state is still very fragile.
No excuses for non-performance
I have always been involved in helping the poor even before becoming Senator. The poor masses are my constituents. I stand for them and they also stood for me by voting me into office. I will use the little I have to execute projects to help alleviate their sufferings and in trying to meet their expectations.
We live in difficult times as a nation when our earnings from oil have depleted so much. The value of our currency is stagnant and government is facing serious cash crunch. There is also a mountain of expectations on those in positions of authority to perform. There is also the need to prove that the change we promised Nigerians is possible.
I am simply using the little I have to maximize impact in the lives of those I represent. Nigerians will not take any excuses. It is in the realm of difficulties and hardship that leaders are expected to perform. We have a duty to rescue our country from the economic doldrums, to give hope and meaning to the lives of our people.
We have a duty to restore the glory of our father land. As Senator, I have all my life struggled and fought for the masses and so, I cannot waste this golden opportunity. It is not how long you have been in government but how you use the opportunity to maximize impact on the lives of the people.
Our people are poor. The talakawa are our primary, political and ideological constituency. We have ideological, constitutional and institutional responsibility to liberate them from poverty as we liberated them from tyrannical and corrupt leaders.
The talakawa are the most oppressed Nigerians. They have been exploited, dominated, plundered, neglected and abandoned for decades and the change government of President Muhammadu Buhari is a historic opportunity to lift them out of poverty, educate them, and enlighten them and empower them. This is part of my contribution to that vision.
My Talakawa Grassroots Revolutionary Development Programme is aimed at the political and ideological enlightenment of the people to know their political status and also the political and economic indices that stand as pillars of their own oppression. Secondly, it is an intervention in education, to provide their education complimentary needs in the seven local government areas which I represent.
It is also an intervention in the area of health by addressing some basic health issues that challenge their existence as a people. It is also an intervention in the area of faith. I think this is the time we should all get involved in the issue of religion itself.
If the state withdraws from moderate religious courses, we will simply create a vacuum for extremists to take over, mobilize and incite the people against the state. My intervention is a revolutionary intervention to mobilize the people and take them out of the Egypt which we found them, into the Promise Land.
Emir Sanusi, capitalism vendor, views inimical to nation’s economy
The Emir of Kano is an intelligent economist and has proven to be a man of impeccable character and vision. He is also a man who has spent most part of his life speaking out his mind. But he is a vendor of capitalism. His views are inimical to the economy of Nigeria. He is an apprentice of IMF and the World Bank policies that have emasculated Africa and have not led us out of poverty.
We are not exporting anything apart from oil and no investor is coming in to invest in anything in Nigeria other than oil. Devaluing Nigerian currency will simply make it easier for those who have been in public offices and have amassed wealth in foreign currency to live comfortably within and outside Nigeria and to oppress us the more.
You don’t have to make our national currency worthless in other to revamp our economy. Many countries in Latin America and in Europe have taken this IMF prescription that has led them to nowhere. The economic experimentation that has grown the nations of China, Brazil and South Africa has to do with putting national economic issues first.
If you go through the history of Sanusi’s political ideas, you can see how raw and exploitative capitalism has been as his ideas. In 2012, Sanusi supported the removal of subsidy and we were on the street protesting against it. While in office, he also had the opportunity to devalue the currency.
We believe that devaluation of the currency and removals of subsidy constitute an invitation to chaos that will lead to a national upheaval against the Buhari administration. If you remove subsidy and devalue currency, you are simply going to spark off inflation and life will be most terrible and brutal to the common man and it will ignite a national uprising that will unsettle, if not subdue the Buhari administration.
I think his advice is wrong and also coming at the wrong time and that is why we are opposed to it. With all due respect, he is a respectable person who has done a lot to save Nigeria and the Nigerian economy, but his views are out of touch with the realities of life outside his palace. People are find it difficult to eat, feed their children, pay their rents and hospital bills.
The mass of our people are without employment, many of our industries have closed down. We have inherited a debt-ridden economy and the masses of our people must not continue to be guinea pigs for economic experimentations. The poor should not continuously be sacrifice for the wrong doing and mismanagement by government of the past.
We must tackle corruption headlong
Well, there are people who have their own interpretations for whatever happens. But we need to define corruption and who are corrupt. If we have a proper definition of corruption, then we must go against everybody who is corrupt and not a few people. If we are interested in eradicating corruption, we cannot choose those to support and those to preserve.
There are three kinds of thieves. The ones we arrest and prosecute the ones we choose to arrest and prosecute and the ones we dust, repackage and present them as respectable people in the society. So, if we are going to fight corruption, then we must tie corruption to everybody that is corrupt.
A nation that is desirous of cleaning its past, thread the path of ethics and morality must not be selective in its prosecution of anti-corruption war. The Buhari administration is reputed to be antagonistic to corruption and corrupt people and it will continuously be probed for its own perception and image.
If we can see corruption and cover it up in the name of partisanship, the international community is free from partisanship and will be able to correct us. So, we must ensure that our views and position on corruption do not in any way ensure prosecuting some and preserving others. The corrupt man of today is influenced by how you treat the corrupt man of yesterday.
If people are corrupt and because they have joined a moral train, he is forgiven, we are simply deceiving ourselves. We must call corruption by its name. In Israel today, the former Prime Minister Ehud Omar, who played a leading role in the founding of Israel is in jail for corruption.
So, there is nothing like saying he has contributed or he has worked and should not be prosecuted. Rev. Allan Bulsaga was a leading anti- apartheid figure but he was tried for corruption. Helmot Khol, the German Chancellor who led the unification, was also tried for corruption. So, if we shield corruption simply because of political expediency, then we are not doing justice to the fight against corruption.
We should not also forget that the future generations in Nigeria will be free from our political chase of partisanship and judge us based on the fact which they have on the ground. We inherited a nation that has been plundered over the years, with a pile of debt which our children and grand children will continue to pay. If we are going to take the first step, we must ensure that those who led our country to ruin are brought to book. If we don’t do that, we are simply wasting our time.
The Buhari challenge
When you fight to defeat an enemy, you need all the support and solidarity as well as all the backing to achieve that. At that time, you are blind to realities and the character and content of those backing you. By the time you are on the seat of power, you have to battle entrenched interests who were part of the forces that brought you to power.
One of the biggest undoing of people who came on a high moral high ground to power is having to detach themselves from entrenched interest and it is clear that what the entrenched interest do each time they study the possibility of a depth of government is that they jump ship and then become a liability.
Why Obasanjo was not able to spark off his reform from the early time has to do with the fact that in his earlier years in power, he had to please and appease those very forces who aided him into power. When you embark on such policy of pleasing and appeasing, you will sacrifice a legacy and your opportunity to perform.
So, a leader has a choice either to be on the side of the people and not entrenched interest or to appease entrenched interests and sacrifice performance and delivery and this is the challenge before the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
If you have found yourself in power, and faced with the problem of paucity of foreign exchange and then you have to deal with rice importers who were part of the contributors to the campaign, then, you will have your conscience to fight.
In all sense of the word, entrenched interest has been the undoing of the government of the past and also a big challenge to President Muhammadu Buhari to break away from them and move Nigeria forward.
Nigeria’s history of anti corruption trial is a media and political war that begins in the media and end up in politics. That is why in all the 140 prisons in the nation today, you don’t find people who have looted billions and millions of dollars in the cells.
When you visit the prisons in Nigeria today, most of those you see there are pick pockets, motor park touts, small scale advanced fee fraud persons who have no resource to get out, petty drug peddlers, prostitutes and miscreants in the society.
We have reached a point in Nigeria where we have to depend on the judicial system of other countries to be able to able to recover our country and recover our money from those who looted our money. If we don’t exorcise politics out of our anti corruption crusade, it is most likely going to be polluted. We treat corruption in Nigeria with kid’s gloves. We pamper and glorify corrupt people.
If there is any difference that President Muhammadu Buhari will make is to prove that he can do what other people could not do. The World Bank is telling us now that over $7 billion of Abacha loot is still in the custody of banks across the world. This is a nation where there are people who still see Abacha as a hero.
We need to ask ourselves whether if Abacha was alive today, would we have heard the billions which he had stolen or are we are still in a country whereby the billions which you have stolen is only heard of or known when you have been arrested by the security forces of other countries or you must have died or fallen out of favour with the party or government in power?
The senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, said yesterday that last week’s Senate’s clearance of former Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi as a minister was not a tacit endorsement of corruption.
Shehu Sani
Sani spoke during a visit to ailing Abdulkareem Albashir, a veteran journalist and columnist, during which he offered to settle his medical bills and procure an artificial limb for him.
He noted that the allegation of corruption against the former governor remained a mere accusation until proven otherwise in court.
“The All Progressives Congress’ (APC) position on corruption allegation is that it is still an allegation and the issue is still in court which the Senate committee should not have entertained in the first place.
“In the general sense, we are duty bound to protect the interest of someone in our party and the opposition has the right to object to whoever is presented.
“In the broader sense, Nigerians and posterity will judge whether our approval of Amaechi was a tacit endorsement of corruption because the issues raised were not enough to stop his confirmation.
“But we must also understand that even if you are made a minister and you get convicted, the law will take its course.
“Certainly if he is found guilty, he would not continue to serve as minister under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the senator as saying.
On the walkout by the opposition senators under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sani said their action was part of democracy.
His words: “I think nothing is wrong with that. I see the walkout by the PDP senators as history repeating itself.
“Opposition senators walked out when Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro was brought in for screening for ministerial position by the previous administration.
“You remember that their protest did not stop the ruling party from having its way.”
Senator Shehu Sani has urged the CCB to publish all declarations made by public office holders since 1999.
The civil rights activist, in a Facebook post, said doing so would allow the public to form ‘transparency vigilante groups’ who would verify claims made by public office holders.
He called on Nigerians to demand full disclosure from the CCB. But the constitution does not compel the CCB to make public assets of public officials.
“The masses deserve to know the material worth of all their elected and appointed public office holders. Every public office holder must come to equity with clean or at least not dirty hand.
“PMB, by his public declaration, has set a high moral standard that must be abided by those who particularly lay claim to the change agenda.”
The name, Shehu Sani, rings a bell in the global human rights community because of his antecedents as a defender of the less privileged in the society. But, in 2015, the activist decided to throw himself into the political turf and he won election to represent Kaduna Central on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC. But trust him not to be one who will look away if he feels threatened for any reason. Barely three months into the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, he has fallen out with his governor, Mallam Nasir El- Rufai (Kaduna State), whom he accuses of running anti-people policies for trying to remove beggars and hawkers from the streets and sanitise the state.
Shehu Sani
In this interview, Sani, who has been involved in negotiations between government and Boko Haram to end bombings in the North- East, raises hope that the 219 Chibok girls abducted by the sect more than 500 days ago may be alive after all, and suggests how the violence could be brought to a peaceful end. Excerpts:
Some have hailed while others criticised Buhari over his first 100 days in office. What is your own assessment?
There is a lot to celebrate within the first 100 days of President Muhammadu Buhari since we are coming from 16 years of waste, corruption, poverty, under-development, lost hope, dashed dreams and misplaced priorities. By all standards, the new government of Muhammadu Buhari has been able to rekindle the hopes of Nigerians and restore their confidence in their country and in governance. Certainly, Nigerians are, once again, proud of their country.
Can you specify the areas in which the President has achieved something within the period under review?
Buhari has restored our pride of place in the international community, for them to believe in us once again; he has shown uncommon zeal in his ability and determination to fight corruption; and he has demonstrated by actions and utterances that he is serious in confronting and ending insurgency in the North-East. He has sent a clear message to all public office holders that Nigeria is in a new era and we can see that he has boosted the morale of the military and has provided an appreciable amount of money and weapons for them to fight insurgents. Apart from that, he has made changes in the command and control of the military with people who are more determined and has set a good example in leadership by publicly declaring his assets.
Some of his critics are angry that he declared only one million and even borrowed money to buy nomination form of the APC for the presidential contest last year, only for him to declare N30 million cash this year?
There will always be questions by people. I believe that even for the courage by the President to declare his assets is something noble and should be applauded by all well-meaning Nigerians. He has set a moral standard for all Nigerian public office holders to follow.
How are we going to resolve the simmering crisis in the Senate, given that some mistakes were made right from the outset making it difficult for the leadership to receive a warm handshake from the President and the APC leadership?
The matter can still be resolved despite the mistake made at the beginning. The truth remains that after we had won the election, there was no serious effort to bring all the members of the National Assembly together to chart a course for an agenda for the party. But by the time it was done, it was already too late because many had already started aligning themselves and seeking their political interest as legislators. It is a very big problem for the party, in the sense that we have a conflict between the standing rules of the NASS and the need for party members to conform to party supremacy. The problem is generic with the party itself. If we are to go back to history, we will see that the APC is a convergence of strange bedfellows, who came into the party with different tendencies, expectations and ideologies. What brought them together initially was the common need to dislodge the Jonathan administration and to send the PDP out of power. And having achieved that, the hidden conflict in the fold started manifesting and that became evident in the way the leadership emerged.
So, what is the way out and do you think that it was right for any APC senator to have ignored the meeting called early on inauguration day by Buhari, the leader of the APC, to participate in the NASS leadership election, if they had any respect for him?
Well, this is what I have been saying; you will see that the leaders came from different backgrounds and those who came from the ‘new PDP’ felt that they should be able to control some levers of power. That is why the Saraki and Dogara factor came into play. It is something like an enemy within.
But how do we get out of it so that the party and the nation can forge ahead peacefully?
The only way out of it is to understand that every revolution comes with some crisis after it has succeeded. These are the crises that pose a challenge to the party and the stability of the state and government. How the APC is going to navigate out of it will determine its success.
Do you support the current jumbo pay for lawmakers as someone who a progressive?
I was part of the committee set up by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to review lawmakers’ pay and we have recommended that the money paid to senators should be reduced. But our recommendation has been stood down until the House of Representatives adopts same. The matter must be sorted out because it is very important to Nigerians. I really support a reduction to make more money available to other sectors.
It is on record that all attempts to broker peace between the FG and Boko Haram and end the cycle of violence in the North-East have failed woefully. What went wrong?
A number of things went wrong with past efforts to broker peace between Boko Haram and the Federal Government. First, some of the demands made by Boko Haram were such that government was not ready and to concede. The group has always insisted that it was willing to agree to peace provided their members were released by government. But government is not ready to that. That has been the sticking point where all past negotiations have always crashed. So, if government says it is ready for negotiation, it should also be ready to concede certain things in the interest of peace.
But government position seems to be that no person has shown up to claim that he is a leader or representative of Boko Haram and cannot therefore negotiate with a phantom group or individuals to prevent the ugly experiences of the past?
There is no doubt that there have been times the Federal Government actually engaged in discussions with phantom groups and individuals but there are also times where the negotiations were very credible. In 2011, I was able to facilitate a dialogue between the group and the Federal Government when I brought in former President Obasanjo to talk to the families of the insurgents and another one, which was with the President of the Supreme Council of Sharia, Dr. Ahmed Datti, where he represented the Boko Haram group, which came out openly to announce him as their representative. We also had the one that was organised by a journalist, Ahmad Salkida, which was very credible. I think Salkida is one credible Nigerian that we need to invite to be able to address the Boko Haram crisis.
Is that the one who lives in Dubai?
Yes, we need to bring him in to be able to succeed in ending the problem of insurgency in Nigeria.
Why should Nigeria invite him?
Certainly, the man has risked his life in the past to seek solution to the problem of Boko Haram and he is a patriotic Nigerian to the core.
But no member of the group has come forward to say he is ready for dialogue with the FG?
Yes, for obvious reasons. Government has merely indicated intent to engage in dialogue but nothing has been done to concretize it. Having made the announcement of intent, government should set up a technical committee, give it a waiver to go through the process of genuine dialogue. The Federal Government should set up a committee and give it the needed waiver to reach out to the insurgents. Don’t forget that, right now, there is an anti-terrorism law that makes it criminal for anybody to communicate or to be seen or identified with the insurgents. But if a committee is set up and is insulated from the anti-terrorism law, then it can begin to make contacts with the group to bring about peace.
Given your roles in the past, why don’t you take up the gauntlet and suggest this directly to government? Are you afraid?
There is nothing like fear but we need legal backing that if we are given permission by the authorities to reach out, then, action will start. But if you are not given permission by government, there is nothing anyone can do because in order to succeed, you need the two sides to agree. You need government to give you the go-ahead to negotiate. You cannot go alone.
So, if government gives you the permission, you can do it?
I cannot do it alone; it has to be a team work with others like clerics, elders and people who have something to offer in the process.
How do we get back the lost good life in the North-East?
The first thing to do is to see how to secure the release of the Chibok schoolgirls. Let us categorize this discussion into two. The first one is how do we negotiate and get the girls out?
Are you sure they are still alive?
I have the belief they are alive because if they are not, certainly, the group, in their own criminality and violence, would have announced that they had killed them. Don’t forget they have been very honest in the past in telling the world who they have killed or not.
If the girls are not alive, certainly, we would have known, but they are actually alive and I believe it is an issue which government needs to thrash out before we go into the final phase of ending insurgency in the North-East.
All the reports from the Amnesty International have been highly critical of the Nigerian military handling of human rights in the fight against insurgency, outlining how they kill and maim suspected terrorists and innocent civilians caught along the way. What do you make of such reports as a member of the human rights community?
We should take it that way because the reports are credible and we cannot fight insurgency without carrying the people along. Nigerian Army, under former President Goodluck Jonathan, had been very brutal and crude. First of all, they passed naked, collective punishment on people, engaged in unnecessary prolonged detention; they virtually abandoned the moral aspect of the fight and the need for them to execute the war against terror within the ambit of democratic norms. So, you cannot continue to perpetrate human rights violations and abuses in the name of fighting terror. Yes, we know very well that terrorists are violent people and have no respect for fundamental rights but I think there is need for restraint in order to protect the rights of innocent persons.
Nigeria has a very bad record as far as corruption is concerned. What should be done to change the narrative as someone who has been fighting against the government to instill good governance in Nigeria?
The first thing is to close all the loopholes where corruption thrives in the land. When you have a government that functions and with a mindset to punish the corrupt instead of celebrating them, then corruption will ebb. We should indeed name and shame, arrest and prosecute those who are corrupt no matter their status as opposed to what we saw in recent past where government actually defended corruption and celebrated thieves.
Do you think the Criminal Justice System also impedes the fight against corruption in Nigeria?
There are a lot of loopholes in the fight against corruption. You know that many high profile cases in court are lost once the media loses interest in them. The justice system is one in which cases are unduly prolonged and that gives corrupt people the vent to get out of it. The prison system in Nigeria also encourages the corrupt to live big life instead of facing correctional punishment. So, my advice is that the criminal justice system in Nigeria should be reviewed to cope with the current realities to curtail the effect of corruption.
There are reports that you have fallen apart with your governor over some issues. Is it not too early in the day for a quarrel to break out between two of you?
It is my wish that we work together for the betterment of Kaduna State and for our party and Nigeria. But it is the governor that is working against me. I was not his favorite candidate for the Senate but I defeated his candidate in the primary election. But when I won the Senate and he won the governorship election, I came to discover two things. We have ideological differences. He is from the political right and I am from the political left. He is a core conservative capitalist, who believes in capitalism and I believe in the progressive, welfarist, leftist and idealistic system. So, that is where we differ. Again, after we had won the election and it came sharing positions, he sidelined me and gave power to the man I defeated in the election, who was his preferred choice. By so doing, he has clearly appointed someone who he is grooming to fight me. Meanwhile, if you are doing this politically and amassing troops and an army close to where I am standing, I don’t want to wait for you to fire the first shot. That is the situation of things.
So, what do you really want from him that he has not given?
The governor has taken some steps which are wrong. He banned beggars from the streets but they are back, he banned hawkers but they are back on the streets, he started demolishing houses but was forced to discontinue because the people rose against him and many other anti-people policies. So, if all these things were good, they could have been sustained. Beggars are people you cannot ban in Kaduna because they are a social problem created by the capitalist system in which people like El-Rufai have been living their lives and propagating. More unfortunately, El Rufai gave the beggars no alternatives of where to relocate to or start a new life in his bid to take them off the streets. He has an agenda, which I don’t support. He wants to do away with beggars and the destitute and plant flowers and build amusement parks in Kaduna and that is not the way to solve problems. The governor wants to give a false image of good life and sanity in Kaduna to make it appear that everybody is rich and living comfortably because there are no beggars and hawkers on the streets when, in reality, they have only been pushed out to go and suffer somewhere else.
My position is that they must remain on the street until their issues are addressed. As far as I am concerned, the beggars need to be chasing after us, the rich people, knocking our car windshields and constantly reminding us that things are not well in our land.
Would you say in all honesty that you don’t like amusement parks and serene environments or are you just playing to the gallery for political reasons?
Look, amusement parks and serenity at what cost to the people? When federal allocations are sent to Kaduna, it is not meant for the elite who want to be in amusement parks and gardens but to the people of Kaduna. Now, where is the place for the beggars and hawkers? Do you want to have amusement parks and live a life of comfort and luxury but hiding lepers, beggars, the cripple and the blind who are part and parcel of the society? It is like living in a fool’s paradise and deceiving oneself and I don’t like that.
Would it not be more beneficial to the beggars if they are confined to a home where some provisions could be made by government for them on daily basis instead of running in traffic and risking their lives all in a bid to survive?
If the governor had provided anything for the beggars and the destitute, I would not have opposed him and the destitute would not have been back on the streets. Even close to El Rufai’s house, there are beggars there in full force. There are more beggars now on the streets of Kaduna than before. I believe that beggars from other states might have joined their counterparts in Kaduna in solidarity.
But in all of this, have you made any effort to explain your own position to the governor?
I don’t have the governor’s telephone number and I don’t think there is anybody in Kaduna, who has the governor’s number apart from people from his kitchen cabinet. But if you ask for my number from even beggars, cripples and hawkers, they all have my number. So, you can see the way I live my life as a man of the people.
Don’t you feel that the governor could accuse you of inciting the people against his government to advance your political future, as there are rumours you want to contest the governorship of Kaduna in 2019?
Well, this is not incitement but a call to order. If I tell him to provide for the poor and the destitute before sending them away from the streets, I am not inciting anyone against him. I need Kaduna to be progressive and peaceful and to be a model for all states. We need to be more realistic and not deceive ourselves.
But is there any iota of truth in the claim that you are antagonizing the governor all in a selfish bid to prepare the ground for you to unseat him in 2019 or do you want to remain in the Senate then?
What is of interest to me now is to see how to deliver service to my people. As you know, 2019 is still a long time from now.
What would you say is your legislative agenda for Nigeria and your people?
I have an agenda in the Senate to pursue bills and motions that will uplift my people, make Nigeria more united and progressive, and to deliver the programs and agenda of the APC to make Nigeria a more united and stable nation. Back home, I have a constituency project called the Talakawas Grassroots Revolutionary Development Program. It is a people-oriented development project to uplift the living standards of the people of my constituency, give them hope, restore their confidence in their legislator and make impact on their lives.
What does it entail?
It is a program that will intervene in education, health, women and youth empowerment, sports, skills acquisition and support for faith-based groups.
A senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani has made his asset public barely 48 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo allegedly made their assets declaration public.
Shehu Sani
A report by Punch News shows that Sani in addition to other things declared two vies and six children
The senator’s asset and liabibilities show a bank balance of N22m; seven houses in kaduna, Abuja, Niger and Katsina states; several vehicles, two uncompleted office apartment in Kaduna; N5m in shares bought in 2007 and later crashed in 2008; 30 books published in Nigeria, United state, United Kingdom with royalties and a community journal titled “Peace Magazine”
He said, “In a new Nigeria on a filtration process for a politically cleaner and decent future, I have decided to voluntarily make this public declaration. President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo’s public declaration of their assets is a moral challenge to all public officeholders.
“Their declaration challenges all men of conscience and docks all men who lay claim to self-dignity and self-worth. Their public declaration hangs a chain of guilt on the neck of all public officeholders.
“To refuse to publicly declare assets is to continue to carry the burden of a moral thorn of guilt, in a nation whose generation of leaders for so long stands in the dock of ethical court.”
“A clean broom is needed to clean a dirty space. I chose to publicly declare and be pelted than to walk with the stain of suspicion and mistrust splashed on all public officeholders by a generation of curious citizenry,” he added.
Some powerful Nigerians are sabotaging the efforts of the Federal Government and other concerned citizens to ensure that the over 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram are set free.
Chibok girls
This was disclosed by the President, Civil Rights Congress, Mr. Shehu Sani, in an exclusive interview with SUNDAY PUNCHlast week.
Sani, who has been involved in efforts to get government and Boko Haram to discuss the fate of the girls in the past, said some powerful individuals, whom he refused to name, ensured that the talks derailed.
Sani’s disclosure came even as SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that government had begun fresh talks with the group to secure the release of the girls.
Reports have claimed that the girls who were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, have been sighted in camps inside Sambisa Forest, in some border towns near Cameroon and in the Central African Republic.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Sani; and a United Arab Emirates-based Nigerian freelance journalist, Ahmad Salkida, who had communication channels with Boko Haram, had offered to mediate between the government and the sect. But none of these efforts have yielded fruits.
There have been speculations that recently President Goodluck Jonathan and Obasanjo held a meeting to discuss how to negotiate the release of the girls.
Sani, who is one of the negotiators facilitating the current talks, confirmed that government and the sect had started another round of talks for the release of the girls. However, he expressed fears that the powerful Nigerians who sabotaged earlier talks might derail the ongoing talks if care was not taken.
“What I want to tell you is that something is being done about it but I’m not disposed to making it public. Most times, publicising these issues always lead to sabotage by those who do not want the girls freed. I will not mention the names of these Nigerians.
“However, I can tell you that real and genuine moves are going on, which I am a part of. The claim that the girls have been abandoned is not true. There are genuine efforts by government and some individuals, who are discreetly making efforts toward getting their (pupils’) safe return home.”
The human rights activist noted that the girls could only be freed either forcefully or through dialogue and negotiation.
He added that the foreign intervention sought by some Nigerians had not produced results.
The United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and Israel had offered to assist Nigeria in rescuing the school girls.
Both the US and the UK had sent security experts and technology to locate the abductees and secure their release. While the US claimed to have located the girls, France had specifically opposed negotiations with the sect.
Speaking on efforts made by these countries so far, Sani said, “I am not aware of any serious efforts made by any foreign country. I am not aware of what is happening on the side of the US forces. From the side of dialogue or negotiation, I have not seen any serious intervention or involvement of these countries.”
Similarly, the Convener, Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said some powerful forces had been frustrating efforts to free the girls
The Second Republic lawmaker said, “Powerful forces have proceeded to stall the negotiation over certain political gains.”
Confirming the negotiation plan, the President, Kibaku Youth Association of Nigeria (a community in Chibok Local Government Area), Mr. Moses Zakwa, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the Federal Government engaged the services of an Australian negotiator.
He, however, said he was not aware if any Nigerian was engaged by the government for talks with the sect.
Zakwa said, “Some weeks ago, we understood that the Federal Government hired a private negotiator who has been working in regards to the release of the Chibok girls. Every person in Chibok and Borno State knows too well that a former governor of the state is the founder of Boko Haram. Everybody sees him like a semi-god that cannot be touched by any authority.”
Zakwa also revealed that the Chibok community had resolved to protect itself against further attacks from Boko Haram. He also dropped hints that the community might take the fight to the Islamic sect.
He said, “What I want to assure you is that the community and its indigenes are ready. We want to take the bull by the horn. Whatever it will cost us, we are fully ready to face members of Boko Haram. I want to assure you that an earthquake will soon happen and Nigerians will be happy with what we plan to do.”
However, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Pan Chibok Youths Association, Dr. Allen Manasseh, told our correspondent that he was not aware of any ongoing talks between the government and the sect.
He said, “I am not aware of any negotiation because I am not privy to that information yet. As I am speaking to you, I am in Chibok and I don’t know when negotiation started or how far they have gone with the negotiation. But if they have started negotiation with Boko Haram, then it is okay by us.”
Manasseh, however, expressed doubts about the Federal Government’s resolve to rescue the girls. While describing the ongoing efforts as belated, the Chibok youth leader said the government had had enough time to rescue the girls.
He said, “That is where my scepticism will come in because the girls in captivity are over a hundred and if the Federal Government is willing to negotiate with whoever is holding them captive, then it has taken too long for them to do that.”
The Northern Elders Forum had on August 11, 2014, given President Jonathan up to October to produce the schoolgirls or forget his 2015 presidential re-election bid.
An ex-Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Mr. Solomon Dalung, at a press briefing on behalf of the forum said the failure of the President to produce the Chibok girls and tackle other security challenges in the land, amounted to the forfeiture of his rights to ask for another mandate to lead Nigeria beyond 2015.
“In the light of our firm conviction that the insurgency and related security challenges pose threats to the 2015 elections and the survival of our nation, we strongly advise President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to bring an end to the insurgency in all its manifestations and produce the Chibok girls before the end of October 2014,” Dalung stated.
But Jonathan had reacted through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, saying he was already working on how to rescue the abducted girls.
“President Jonathan does not require any threat or ultimatum from any group of persons to be alive to his responsibilities to the Nigerian people,” Okupe had said.
Efforts to get the Presidency to confirm the said negotiation on Friday proved abortive.
Several calls made to the telephones of both the Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, and the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, were not picked. Also, they did not respond to a text message sent to them.
Last Monday, a United States-based journal, Foreign Policy, listed the girls’ rescue as one of the missions that had been “forgotten” by the US government.
According to the magazine, the rescue of the girls is one of ‘The Pentagon’s top five “forgotten missions.”’
In a report titled ‘Forgotten Mission,’ which was published on Monday, the journal said there was no end in sight for the US mission in Nigeria to free the schoolgirls.
The abduction had called global attention, especially through a social media campaign with the hash tag, #BringBackOurGirls.
Foreign Policy recalled that President Barack Obama’s administration had deployed manned and unmanned aircraft to find the girls.
“It also dispatched advisors from the State and Defence departments, as well as the FBI. In late May, 80 troops (were) deployed in Chad to support and maintain unarmed Predator drones providing the mission with surveillance,” Foreign Policy added.
The journal further said, “Approximately 60 girls have escaped but the rest remain missing. Other missions said to have been forgotten by the US government included the hunting down of Joseph Kony of the LRA in Central Africa; destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons; NATO air policing; and the US operations in Afghanistan.
50 days after the seizure of the over 200 girls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram, civil rights activist, Shehu Sani, yesterday, raised the alarm on the fate of the victims.
Sani, who was at the forefront of two failed bids to broker peace between Boko Haram and government, told Sunday Vanguard that the prolonged abduction of the girls by the Islamist group could dramatically alter the fate and orientation of the girls.
According to Sani, the longer the girls were kept by their captors, the higher the potential of their being hypnotised and brainwashed to accept radicalism and terrorism.
”But the danger of keeping these girls, without either using negotiation or force to free them, is that, everyday these girls are being brainwashed by the insurgents,” the former negotiator said.
” If we are not careful, the Chibok girls that would come out of captivity would not be the same girls that went into captivity. They would be indoctrinated, they would be hypnotised and brainwashed to the point that they would be transformed into insurgents themselves. And of what use will they be then?
”These are very young girls in their teens with very open and vulnerable minds but open to dangerous ideas. You can see how a man would abduct a girl, whose parents don’t like him and by the time the girl comes back she is ready to fight with her parents.
”So, the danger is that as the clocks ticks, it is ticking for us , for the girls and for our reputation and integrity as a country.”
Asked if the insurgents were ready to take the window of the opportunity provided by the Federal Government to lay down their arms and accept amnesty, Sani said the government was unserious and insincere over amnesty for the insurgents.
The President of Civil Rights Congress said it was not possible for President Goodluck Jonathan to give amnesty and also declare full scale war against the insurgents.
He asked:” How can the insurgents come out and enter the open door of the amnesty when there is a price tag on the head of the leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, by the United States, which was also supported by the Nigerian government?
”How can the insurgents enter the open door of the amnesty when already there is an anti-terrorism law that outlaws the group and criminalises any form of communication with its members?
”How can the insurgents embrace the open door provided by the amnesty when there is a state of emergency in place and forces to go after any insurgent that rears his head up?
How can the insurgents embrace the amnesty when Nigeria sponsored the resolution at the United Nations that blacklisted the group?
How can the insurgents avail themselves of amnesty when Nigeria invited the United States, Israel, France and Britain, whose drones are already hovering over their heads? I think what we have is a President that is confused and does not know how to handle the Boko Haram situation.” (Vanguard)
A former negotiator between Boko Haram and government, Shehu Sani, has told the Nigerian government to negotiate with those who adbucted the girls, adding that they may embrace the unpalatable option of swapping prisoners. He said: “There are two ways to which you can get these girls free,” Sani told CNN’s “Connect the World” show.
“The first is to use force, and the second is through dialogue. The use of force is not an option for now in the sense that nobody knows where these girls were kept.
“And even if you know, these girls have been embedded in with the insurgents who are heavily armed. And any attempt to rescue them will be putting their lives in further danger.”
