Presidency Disowns El-Rufai’s Letter On Shehu Sani

The Presidency has disowned claims by Governor Nasir el-Rufa’I that he was directed to recall Senator Shehu Sani from the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari.

El-Rufa’I and Sani have been at loggerheads leading to the senator’s suspension from the party and exclusion from the state’s senatorial primary, all which were reversed by the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“The presidency wishes to distance President Muhammadu Buhari from a letter currently in circulation, which alleges that the President had authorized a Governor or anyone else for that matter to “deal with traitors and disloyal members of APC, especially Senator,” presidential aide, Garba Shehu, tweeted.

“We wish to confirm that the President is not aware of any such letter, let alone authorising anyone to deal with any party member.

“Given President Buhari’s record, it is inconceivable that he would usurp the role of the party leaders and instruct anyone to punish a party member.

“In the light of above, we would like to appeal to the general public, especially members of the press, to ignore false or unauthorized information intended to attribute to the President any action which is not in line with his character,” he further stated.

El-Rufai in a four-page memo addressed to Buhari, dated October 2, titled, ‘Forwarding of a compendium of Shehu Sani’s denigration of President Buhari, the APC and the Governor of Kaduna State’, had warned of consequences if Shehu Sani is allowed to return to the National Assembly.

El-Rufai said he would have heeded Buhari’s request for the recall of Sani sometime in January this year but for the huge cost such process would require.

He said, “Your Excellency will recall that earlier this year, you directed me to initiate processes to recall Shehu Sani from the Senate, to punish his repeated acts of contempt and disloyalty.

“The party executives in his ward in Kaduna suspended him from the APC in December 2015 for negative comments about your Excellency. It was later extended to indefinite suspension.

“Following your directives, our team in Kaduna studied what was being done in Kogi State (then) regarding the recall of Dino and drew out a budget. Upon an examination of the cost and loopholes in the recall process as brutally exposed in Dino Melaye’s case, and in recognition of the imminent preparations for the next election, it was decided that it might be more prudent to oust him at the ballot.

“We recognised that there was no way our party members in Kaduna Central will present him again for election, and therefore, concluded that rejection by the party was a more effective and less costly option.”

El-Rufai’s memo added, “Recently, we noticed unsavoury attempts at the national headquarters of the party to treat this same Shehu (Sani) as if he had been a loyal party member. The ostensible reason for the romance with this most disloyal and untrustworthy person was said to be the political arithmetic in the Senate.

“The proponents of this immoral elevation of a traitor failed to acknowledge that Shehu Sani was the loudest among the irresponsible lot that were undermining the Federal Government and threatening the APC with defection.

“When his collaborators began defecting (sic), he could not (do the same) because there was no place (for him) to go. The PDP in Kaduna State refused to guarantee him an automatic ticket. While looking for a new home, he pasted posters all over Kaduna without a party name or logo.

“The APC does not need Shehu Sani. He is the one who now needs the party he has ridiculed and rebelled against since 2015. Let no one mistake his desperation to return to the Senate as the sincere actions of a reformed person. There is no contrite man, but one engaged in practised pretence for the sake of a ticket.”