El-Rufai paying for ‘misdeeds’ while in power – Shehu Sani

Former Kaduna Central District senator, Shehu Sani, says detained former Governor Nasir El-Rufai is paying for his alleged misdeeds and irresponsibility while in office.

Mr Sani made these remarks on Friday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.

Reacting to Mr El-Rufai’s recent comment that he had been deserted by allies, Mr Sani said being out of power naturally comes with losing allies and viewing reality through a different lens.

Mr Nasir El-Rufai on Wednesday complained about the silence of several close associates, colleagues, and family members over his travails.

The former governor, who is being detained by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over corruption allegations, made the comments in a statement on Facebook titled “My Relationships and the Aftermath.”

Shehu Sani’s response

When asked to comment on Mr El-Rufai’s remarks, Mr Sani recalled his own personal experience.

“I have been in the gulag for a very long time, but it is natural. When you are out of circulation, you are bound to lose friends, and you are bound to see things differently from the way you used to,” he said.

“El-Rufai is paying the price of his misgovernance and his irresponsibility when he was in public office. I have heard a lot of comments from people expressing sympathy for him, but my own is this: When you are in office, always remind yourself that it is an opportunity, and it is a very temporary opportunity for you.”

Mr Sani further alleged that Mr El-Rufai demonstrated a disregard for the rule of law while in office by routinely disobeying court orders.

“He was in office; he had no respect for the law. He did not obey court orders. He arrested many people and sent them to jail, and today he has found himself in the very place where he took so many people,” he said.

According to him, Kaduna witnessed severe misgovernance and the arbitrary use of state power to target political opponents when Mr El-Rufai was in power.

“From 2015 to 2023, we saw a lot of misgovernance, irresponsible leadership and the use of statecraft to attack and jail opponents in Kaduna,” he stated.

Mr Sani cited several cases to buttress his claims, including the arrest of journalist Luka Binyat over a published report.

“There was Luka Binyat, who was a correspondent of Vanguard newspaper. For writing a piece, the government of El-Rufai arrested him and sent him to jail, where he stayed for almost a year,” he said.

He also referenced the case of 89 community leaders from Kachia Local Government Area who, according to him, were detained for over nine months in Kaduna Prisons after protesting the killing of their leader.

Mr Sani also highlighted the arrest and imprisonment of Islamic clerics from Zaria who protested against the retrenchments from the Kaduna State Civil Service, a lecturer at Kaduna State University named John Danfulani, and Leadership newspaper reporter Maida Joseph—all for criticising the state government.

He further alleged that members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) remained in detention for six to seven years facing murder charges following lethal clashes with security forces.

Turning to the security situation in Southern Kaduna, Mr Sani dismissed those defending Mr El-Rufai, claiming that most commentators lacked firsthand knowledge of the region.

“I went through the comments of people about what General Musa said, and if you look at it, 80 per cent of those who are commenting have never been to Southern Kaduna. They don’t know where Sanga is, where Kauru is, where Kachia is, where Kagarko is, where Banchiki is, where Kufana and Ozan Kuzeta are. So, they only read what they read on the pages of newspapers,” he said.

“But it is a fact that terrorists and bandits have been killing people in Southern Kaduna for over a decade without any intervention from the state government. Not only in Southern Kaduna. In Central Kaduna, where I come from, the state government did nothing.”

He accused the Mr El-Rufai administration of failing to support local security agencies.

“There was never a time when the government led by Nasir El-Rufai provided support for the police, the Army or the Civil Defence, or took any serious measure to end or stop that violence,” Mr Sani claimed.

Mr El-Rufai is yet to respond to the allegations.

READ ALSO: El-Rufai’s ex-chief of staff dumps ADC, vows to deliver Zaria, Lere, others to APC

Shehu Sani and Nasir El-Rufai

The political feud between Mr Sani and former governor El-Rufai is well documented.

Both politicians were in the All Progressives Congress (APC) when they took office in 2015; but their relationship quickly deteriorated over political control, patronage, and governance styles.

The feud reached a boiling point ahead of the 2019 elections when Mr Sani as a senator joined to block a $350 million World Bank loan requested by the Mr El-Rufai administration, arguing it would burden the state with unsustainable debt.

The move severely fractured the Kaduna APC chapter, leading to Mr Sani’s suspension from the party and his eventual defection to another platform after being denied the APC senatorial ticket.

Mr Sani is now running again for the Kaduna Central senatorial seat under the APC.