Tag: Senator Shehu Sani

Kidnap Of UBEC Chairman, Daughter Is Tragic – Shehu Sani

Shehu Sani Decries Bandits' Activities In Kaduna, Three Other States
Senator Shehu Sani (file)

Senator Shehu Sani representing Kaduna Central has described the kidnap of the Chairman of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Mohammad Abubakar and his daughter by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers along the Kaduna-Abuja highway as tragic and unfortunate.

The gunmen who were dressed in military uniform intercepted two vehicles including a sports utility vehicle belonging to the UBEC chairman around Kurmin Kare village along the highway at about 3:30 pm on Monday, shot the driver dead, and later abducted the UBEC chairman and his daughter to an unknown destination.

Sani in a Facebook post on Monday urged the security agencies to intensify efforts to secure their release.

“The reported kidnapping of Dr Muhammad Abubakar Mahmud and his daughter and the killing of his driver along Abuja Kaduna road today is tragic and unfortunate.

“I call on the security agencies to jointly intensify efforts to secure their freedom. My heart goes to the victims and their families. May the soul of the deceased Rest in Peace.”

READ ALSO: Gunmen Kidnap UBEC Chairman, Daughter Along Kaduna-Abuja Highway

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Ahmad Abdurahman, confirmed the incident in a statement and said that a combined team of Police Mobile Force, Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Command, Special Forces and Operation Yaki have been mobilized to the area with a view to combing the bush for possible rescue of the victims and arresting the criminals.

The Kaduna-Abuja highway has been under recent attacks by bandits, which made the acting Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, launch a robust security action plan tagged ‘Operation Puff Adder’ on Friday, April 5, 2019.

The aim was to tackle kidnapping, banditry and other criminal activities along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway.

The operation covers the Kaduna-Abuja highway and adjoining communities extending to Kogi, Katsina, Niger and Zamfara states.

The force recently combed the bush along Kaduna-Abuja highway in search of the armed bandits terrorizing unsuspecting commuters on the road.

Despite the move by the security agencies, most travellers took to the Abuja and Kaduna rail stations to avoid life-threatening experiences on the expressway.

Sudan Coup: Light Has Finally Come, Says Shehu Sani

Shehu Sani Decries Bandits' Activities In Kaduna, Three Other States
Senator Shehu Sani (file)

 

Senator Shehu Sani has said that the ousting of President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan is a welcomed development.

Sani stated this in a tweet on Thursday following the successful military coup in the North African nation.

The Sudanese President was removed from power and detained by the army, Defence Minister Awad Ibnouf announced on state television on Thursday.

READ ALSO: Sudan Defence Minister Sworn In As Chief Of New Military Council

“I announce as minister of defence the toppling of the regime and detaining its chief in a secure place,” Ibnouf said.

A transitional military council would replace Bashir for two years, he said, adding that the country’s borders and airspace would be shut until further notice.

Sani in reaction to the development said; “The ouster of President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan is a welcome development. Light has finally come to the Sudan.A salute to peoples power.Another lesson for African tyrants. However, military rule should be brief and democracy should be restored immediately.”

Uba Sani Defeats Shehu Sani To Win Kaduna Central Seat

Kaduna APC Suspends Senator Shehu Sani Indefinitely
File Photo: Shehu Sani

 

Mr. Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has won the Kaduna Central Senatorial seat beating incumbent Senator Shehu Sani. 

Announcing the results,  the  Returning Officer Prof. Zakari Muhammad of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said Uba Sani, a former  Political Adviser to Governor Nasir El-Rufai  polled a total number of  355, 242 votes to  defeat Lawal Adamu of the  PDP, who scored 195,497 votes, and Senator Shehu Sani of the PRP who came a distant third with 70,613 votes.

READ ALSO: Ex-Governor Uduaghan Loses Senatorial Bid In Delta

Shehu Sani won the Senate seat on the platform of the APC in 2015 but defected to the PRP after he lost in the APC primaries.

Meanwhile, Mr. Samaila Suleiman of the APC has won the Kaduna North Federal Constituency with 86,227  votes.

Suleiman defeated  Mr. Ali Muazu of the PDP, who scored 33,858 votes.

Move Against Onnoghen A Political Assault On Sacred Temple Of Justice – Sani

 

Senator Shehu Sani has said that the move against Justice Walter S N Onnoghen, GCON (“CJN”) is an assault on the judiciary.

Taking to social media on Sunday, the lawmaker representing Kaduna Central said the move to remove Onnoghen threatens the smooth sailing of our democracy and peace as a nation.

“The move against the CJN Onnoghen is a political assault on the sacred temple of justice; it should be resisted & rescinded. The Govt has moved in the crane to the Court in order to remove a Bench from the roof. Tis amount to throwing a bolt on the runway of our democracy & peace,” Sani said.

READ ALSO: Justice Onnoghen: Assault, Intimidation And Desecration Of Judiciary Must Stop, Says NBA

Sani added, “CJN Onnoghen; whoever sold the idea to the Government sold to them a powder of pepper in a pack of a snuff.”

Zamfara Killings: Shehu Sani Lashes Out At Northern Leaders

 

The Senator representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly, Shehu Sani has accused northern elites of giving the killings in the region a positive nod with their silence.

Shehu Sani said the northern leaders have been quiet over the issues of killings and kidnapping around the region because the poor are the ones who suffer the most for the menace.

Sani who took to Twitter to air his views regarding the latest massacre in Zamfara state said in a bid to remain in the good books of the government, northern elites have continued to keep mum.

READ ALSO: INEC Introduces Electronic, Para-Collation Centres To Track Election Results

The lawmaker also lamented that mourning is becoming synonymous to Zamfara, saying that the killings and funerals have become so frequent that the issue is not given the attention it deserves.

Sani also spoke about killings in Kaduna saying that there is a herder crisis which is being played down. He urged Kaduna residents to stop listening to politicians peddling fake information aimed at making themselves look good.

A Saturday Evening Massacre

Suspected bandits on Saturday, killed 17 people in an attack on Magami Village of Faru District in Maradun Local Government Area (LGA) of Zamfara State.

The Zamfara State Police Command confirmed the attack and the figure in a statement on Sunday by its spokesperson, Mr Mohammed Shehu.

Mr Shehu said the assailants stormed the village in the late evening of Saturday and attacked innocent villagers.

Following the incident, he said the command deployed an additional unit of operatives comprising the Police Mobile Force (PMF) and Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU) in the area.

According to the command’s spokesperson, the police personnel were directed to operate in collaboration with the military and other security personnel already deployed in the area.

He added that the team was asked to restore normalcy in the area and prevent any security threat by any disgruntled person or group.

Shehu revealed that the Acting Governor of the state, the Commissioner of Police, and heads of other security agencies in Zamfara had visited the scene earlier on Sunday.

He said efforts were ongoing to arrest the culprits and bring them to justice while appealing to the people to cooperate with the security agencies.

This Government Has Not Made Any Significant Progress – Shehu Sani

Senator Shehu Sani has said that the government is yet to make an impact with its performance so far. 

The lawmaker representing Kaduna central at the Red Chamber made this statement on Thursday as a guest on Channel’s Televisions Politics Today.

Sani noted while discussing the recently proposed budget that “the performance of the government has not made any significant progress between 2017 and now”.

Senator Shehu Sani speaks on proposed 2019 budget and the Nigerian government.

He, however, noted that booing a “president is not the best way of challenging the facts”.

READ ALSO: Proposed N8.8trn Budget For 2019 Too Ambitious, Says Ex-CBN Chief

Sani said that the lawmakers at the National Assembly on the day of the proposed budget presentation lost a great opportunity to put the president to task and challenge the figures that he doled out.

The lawmaker had in a tweet on Wednesday lambasted his colleagues for the uproar experienced during the joint session held for the presentation of the proposed 2019 budget.

He said the performance which President Muhammadu Buhari raised was questionable, but the parliamentarians failed to compose themselves in a bid to truly ascertain the viability of the figures presented.

Differing on Senator Sani’s take regarding the proposed budget presentation, Hon Adamu Abubakar said,” Mr. President was categorical during the presentation of the budget”.

Speaking while on the same programme, Adamu said the jeers and cheers at the National Assembly on Wednesday were all part of politics.

He said Buhari made it clear that “there was implementation” of the ‘2018 budget’.

Adding that some lawmakers including himself have taken the pains to verify claims made by the President, hence the reason they are confident in the 2019 ‘Budget of Continuity’.

The Member of the House of Representatives from Niger state said that he is certain that regardless of what transpired on the floor of the National Assembly, even within the “opposition class, quite a lot of people did understand the President’s position”.

Shehu Sani Reacts To Uproar At National Assembly During Budget Presentation

This Govt Is Deceitful About Restructuring, Says Shehu Sani
Senator Shehu Sani (file)

The lawmaker representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani has reacted to the uproar experienced on the floor of the National Assembly while President Muhammadu Buhari was presenting the 2019 proposed budget.

At the presentation which held before a joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday, lawmakers of both the ruling and opposition party, took to cheers and jeers while the President tabled the budget.

As the President reeled out achievements of the present government, members of the opposition PDP booed while their APC counterparts praising their principal.

READ ALSO: President Buhari’s Full Speech At Presentation Of 2019 Budget Proposal

The drama within the hallowed chambers dipped to a highly disturbing low that the President had to caution the parliamentarians to comport themselves lest they put the nation to shame before the prying world.

In reaction to the lack of decorum which characterized the budget presentation, Senator Sani said it is ‘absurd’ that lawmakers should behave in such a manner when a major legislative process was ongoing.

He said: “The Budget Presentation was a theater of the absurd, one side of the opera occupied by the oleaginous and obsequious choristers craving for the attention of President Buhari, cheering even a sip of water, and the other occupied by unruly bands of impudent hecklers and discourteous objectors.”

Senator Shehu Sani, Hunkuyi’s Faction Dumps APC

Kaduna APC Suspends Senator Shehu Sani Indefinitely
Senator Shehu Sani

 

A splinter group within the Kaduna State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to Senators Shehu Sani and Othman Hunkuyi have announced their exit from the ruling party.

The groups – APC Restoration group and APC Akida said their decision was based on lack of internal democracy within the party and failure of governance.

The leader of APC Restoration group, Tom Maiyashi, told journalists in Kaduna on Friday that the group decided to leave the APC because the party has failed to meet up with the expectations of Nigerians who voted them into power.

READ ALSO: Leadership Crisis: R-APC Sues Oshiomhole, INEC, 52 Others

Although they did not state the political party which they will be joining, Maiyashi said consultations are ongoing with other political parties with a view to identifying the party where they will pitch their tents.

“Members of our two groups have decided to leave the APC because it is incapable of accommodating and responding to well-meaning dissent, criticism, and demands for inclusiveness and internal democracy.

“It has not lived up to the expectations of the millions of people who laboured to put in power, as well as Nigerian who expected that it will usher in genuine change.

“We are hereby advising all our teeming members to formalize their withdrawal from the APC. We are engaged in serious discussions with parties which share our value and principles toward political collaboration that best suits our interests,” Maiyashi said

Explaining the reasons why the two Senators – Sani and Hunkuyi did not attend the press conference, the faction leader said this was due to security concerns. He noted that the Senators were attacked by thugs during their last two press conferences which they addressed in the state capital.

The Chief of Staff to Senate President Bukola Saraki, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who is also a member of the Akida group, dumped APC weeks ago citing underperformance of the APC as one of the reasons for his action.

Plot To Silence Us With Security Forces Will Fail – Shehu Sani

The Senator Representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has alleged that some people are aiming to tarnish his reputation and silence him, using security agents.

The lawmaker, on Friday, in a tweet on his verified Twitter handle, @ShehuSani said some people are abusing power and plotting to use security forces to frame him.

“Those who abuse power by thinking that they can use security forces to set us up in order to silence us or tarnish our reputation have taken on the wrong person. They will always fail as they usually do,” his tweet read.

READ ALSO: Kaduna Police Invite Shehu Sani Over Alleged Murder Case   

Sani’s reaction on Twitter comes less than 24-hours after he was invited by the Police in Kaduna State requesting that he appear at the command headquarters. This was after he was allegedly mentioned in a murder case.

The Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Austin Iwar, in a statement on Thursday, said he has written to the Senator asking him to appear at the Command Headquarters in Kaduna for questioning on April 30th.

Senator Sani had on Wednesday, February 21 accused Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai of tyranny, describing him as a ‘military administrator.’

The All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker in his reaction to the demolition of APC faction secretariat, a building belonging to Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, in Kaduna State, said El-Rufai is only angered by his suspension.

“What is happening in Kaduna is simply tyranny. We don’t have an elected governor we have a military administrator, one who thinks that everything should go his own way.

“He engineered the party to suspend us, to suspend me. That is about a year and half ago. When the suspension (El-Rufai’s suspension) came, he became very angry moving about bulldozers to bring down buildings,” he said when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television programme, Politics Today.

 

‘I Wont be Intimidated To Silence’

Senator Shehu Sani had always insisted that we will never be silenced.

In his reaction to the civil defamation suit filed against him by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Sani insisted that nothing will stop him from expressing his opinion.

“The distinguished Senator wishes to assure all his supporters and well-wishers that nothing and absolutely nothing can stop him from expressing his opinion on either Kaduna state or National issues,” a statement by Suleiman Ahmed, a Special Adviser to the Senator read in part.

“The distinguished Senator is a dogged fighter who has been through many courts and even prisons in his life of struggle and can never be stopped or intimidated to silenced by any means,” his statement read.

Governor El-Rufai had sued the Senator accusing him of defaming his character and demanding N500million damages on four defamation charges, making a total of N2billion damages.

Police Invite Shehu Sani Over Alleged Murder Case        

The Police in Kaduna State has written the Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, requesting that he appear at the command headquarters after he was allegedly mentioned in a murder case.

The Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Austin Iwar, in a statement, said he has written to the Senator asking him to appear at the Command Headquarters in Kaduna for questioning on April 30th.

He explains that the Senator will be questioned regarding an alleged case of criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide transferred to his office by the 1 Division of the Nigerian army in Kaduna.

READ ALSO: Gunmen Kill Two Policemen, Abduct NURTW Chairman And Others In Kaduna

The Senator, he added, will also be questioned regarding an exhibit audio cd in which his name was mentioned by the principal suspect.

The police chief says the invitation will allow them to fairly conclude the investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, Senator Shehu on Friday in a tweet on his official handle @ShehuSani alleged that some people are aiming to silence him or tarnish his reputation.

“Those who abuse power by thinking that they can use security forces to set us up in order to silence us or tarnish our reputation have taken on the wrong person. They will always fail as they usually do,” his tweet read.

Tenure Extension: Buhari Has Saved APC From Disaster – Shehu Sani

 

Senator Shehu Sani has reacted to the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari, who on Monday kicked against tenure extension for the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman and other elected state officials of the party.

The Senator, representing Kaduna Central in an interview on Channels Television Programme, Politics Today said President Buhari has saved the party from a disaster by intervening and describing the tenure elongation as illegal.

“The intervention of the President, if it was not done, it would have been disastrous for the party. I feel highly relieved.

“So, in every sense of the word, it has saved the party from what would have consumed it at the end of the day.

“If we went ahead with that tenure elongation, and someone from the opposition party goes to court after all the processes of congresses and primaries has been done, the point is that we may end up without a governorship or presidential candidate and without a candidate at all the legislative arm of government,” he said.


President Buhari on Monday, in Abuja, told members of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party that the tenure elongation is illegal.

This comes one month after the NEC announced the elongation of the tenure of the party’s National Working Committee and other executives by one year, effective June this year.

The announcement had been made on February 27 during a NEC meeting attended by President Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, APC Chairman John Oyegun and other party chieftains.

 

‘Some People Misled President Buhari’

Senator Shehu Sani explained further during the interview that President Buhari was however misled by some members of the party for initially supporting the tenure elongation.

“On my part, I told him (Buhari) right to his face that as a man who has seen it all, who has achieved so much as a public officer, he should outrightly reject that extension because the members of the party, we are outrightly opposed to it.

“What happened is that, there were people who misled the President, misled the party and are trying to use that extension for them to achieve their own end,” he said.

Kaduna Has A Military Administrator Not A Governor – Shehu Sani

 

Senator Shehu Sani has accused Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai of tyranny, describing him as a ‘military administrator.’

The All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker also reacting to the demolition of APC faction secretariat, a building belonging to Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, in Kaduna State, said El-Rufai is only angered by his suspension.

As an aftermath of crisis rocking, APC in Kaduna State saw the emergence of a faction formed by members loyal to the two suspended APC Senators Suleiman Hunkuyi and Shehu Sani in the state. The new faction opened a new State party Secretariat at 11B Sambo close in the state but the building housing the secretariat was demolished on Tuesday, February 20.

Sani, who is representing Kaduna Central at the Red Chambers when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television Programme, Politics Today on Wednesday pointed accusing fingers at Governor El-Rufai over the demolition.

“What is happening in Kaduna is simply tyranny. We don’t have an elected governor we have a military administrator, one who thinks that everything should go his own way.

“He engineered the party to suspend us, to suspend me. That is about a year and half ago. When the suspension (El-Rufai’s suspension) came, he became very angry moving about bulldozers to bring down buildings,” he said.

READ ALSO: Shehu Sani Attacks El-Rufai Over Demolition Of Factional APC Secretariat

Sani also said that the appointment of Mr Bola Tinubu as Chairman of the party’s reconciliation committee ahead of the 2019 elections will only be successful if governors cooperate with Tinubu.

“The best option for the party is the path of Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu and I believe that he will succeed. If he will succeed it depends on whether the governors are prepared to cooperate with him.

“But the fact that the last chance for the party to unite and restore order is for Bola Tinubu to succeed and if he doesn’t succeed, I don’t see any possibility for any other thing to happen than for all of us to go our separate ways.”

He also debunked claims that he has the ambition to become Kaduna State governor for constantly criticising El-Rufai.

“I don’t know when I criticised Babangida, Abacha and other tyrants of the past whether I wanted to be President. When things go wrong, I speak out against President Muhammadu Buhari, does that now mean that I want to be President for speaking out?

The lawmaker pointed out that he has been speaking out for the past 25- 30 years to bad governance, corruption and tyranny.