The Senator representing Kaduna Central
Senatorial District, Shehu Sani, says the
relationship between him and Governor Nasir el-
Rufai, has broken down irretrievably s a result of
ideological differences.
Sani in an exclusive interview with Vanguard
blamed the governor for the breakdown in their
long cherished relationship, accusing him of
pursuing capitalist and conservative policies to
drive away the poor and the less privileged from
the state as opposed to his welfarist and
progressive disposition.
Sani explained that it was wrong for the governor
to remove beggars and hawkers from the streets of Kaduna without making alternative arrangements for them, vowing to resist such inhuman move until the solutions were provided for the less privileged.
The activist said that he would never shy away
shouting on behalf of destitute in the state, which
the governor was trying to decimate all in a bid to
be seen to be working for a clean and prosperous
Kaduna State when majority of the people were
living in squalour.
Sani complained that the governor was trying to
reduce his political clout by giving recognition and
political patronage to another politician, whom he
had defeated inn the last election.
Sani said,”Well, it is my wish that we work together
for the betterment of Kaduna State, our party and
Nigeria. But it is the governor that is working
against me. I was not his favourite 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
to sharing positions, he sidelined me and gave the
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.
” Let me say that if you are doing this politically
and amassing troops and an army close to where I
am standing, I dont want to wait for you to fire the
first shot. That is the situation of things.
Sani accused El-Rufai of taking what he called
‘wrong steps’ and vowed not to support him in
carrying them through because of his love for the
down-trodden.
He said: “Look, let me tell you 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 up against
him and many other anti-people policies.
“So, if all these things were good, they could have
been sustained. But 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 flush them off the streets. He has
an agenda, which I dont support.
“He wants to do away with beggars and destitute
and plant flowers and build amusement parks in
Kaduna and that is not the way to solve problem.
“The governor wants to give a false image of good
life and sanity in Kaduna to the 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.
“But 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 windshields
of our vehicles and constantly remind us that
things are not well in our land,” the senator said.
But the Chief Press Secretary to Governor El-Rufai,
Samuel Aruwan, said that the governor was too
occupied with more important issues than
discussing the issues raised by Shehu Sani.
Aruwan said that the governor had a pact with
Kaduna people and was working hard to meet the
yearning and expectations of the people and would
not be distracted by the lawmaker.
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