2019: Sani Dumps APC Heads to PRP

• We’re yet to confirm his exit, says party

John Shiklam in Kaduna

In a further depletion of the All Progressives Congress (APC) membership in the Senate, the senator for Kaduna Central senatorial zone, Mr. Shehu Sani, Saturday dumped the party after failing to get its ticket for re-election in 2019 under controversial circumstances. Sani submitted his resignation letter to the APC chairman in his ward, Ward 6, Tudun Wada, Kaduna North Local Government Area. He said he had joined the APC and remained in the party against all odds in the belief that it will be a veritable platform for the realisation of the democratic ideals he held dear.

But the APC national leadership claimed it could not ascertain Sani’s resignation. APC National Publicity Secretary Lanre Issa-Onilu, who responded to media enquiries, said, “We received the news of the alleged defection of Senator Shehu Sani through media reports. The party leadership will relate with all the facts concerning the reported defection and react appropriately in due course.”

Meanwhile, there are strong indications that Senator Shehu Sani may join the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in Kaduna.

Sources within the party hinted on Saturday that Sani may be given the party’s senatorial ticket for Kaduna Central Senatorial Zone.

The source disclosed that Sani has a very strong relationship with the PRP, adding that he had been its financier for a very long time.

The senator’s resignation letter reads, “I present to you my highest compliments and wish by this communication to formally offer to you my resignation from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“I had joined the APC and remained with it against all odds in the belief that it will constitute a veritable platform for the realisation of those democratic ideals which I hold very dear, that honour and integrity will be the ultimate ethos of the patty and, most importantly, that internal party democracy will always be the norm.

“However, only posterity can affirm the extent to which the APC has committed to and reflected these values.

“As I exit the APC at this point in time, I wish to formally thank the party for availing me the platform upon which I am currently serving this country in the honoured capacity of Senator of the Federal Republic.

“I wish the party well in all her future endeavours and ask, sir, that you, please, accept the assurance of my highest considerations.”

The National Working Committee (NWC) of APC had earlier granted Sani an automatic ticket to recontest the Kaduna Central senatorial seat, but this was greeted with protest from the state governor, Nasir el-Rufai, whose preferred aspirant, Uba Sani, and three others were not cleared to contest at the time. A primary election was later held following the governor’s objection. But Shehu Sani, who insisted that he was the sole candidate of the party, boycotted the election, describing it as a “Kangaroo election sponsored by the state government”.

Uba Sani was declared winner of the election after polling 2,088 votes to Shehu Sani’s 15.
The NWC was said to have declared the primary election as an illegality and insisted that Shehu Sani was APC’s sole candidate.

However, it was later learnt that the party submitted Uba Sani’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its candidate for the senatorial zone.

El-Rufai and Senator Sani have been engaged in a bitter political rivalry since 2015, with the former vowing to ensure that Sani does not return to the senate in 2019.

The ruling APC has of late lost many senators and House of Representatives members to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.