Kaduna APC defies Oshiomhole, says Shehu Sani’s suspension stands

The Kaduna State Executive of the All Progressives Congress has said it is not backing down on the indefinite suspension it imposed on the senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani.

The state APC rejected the directive of the party’s National Working Committee that Sani’s suspension should be called off.

The APC NWC had, in a statement on Sunday by the party’s acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, in Abuja, directed the Tudun Wada ward to lift the suspension imposed on Sani.

Nabena said, “The (APC) National Secretariat has received the news of the suspension of Senator Shehu Sani by the Tudun Wada Ward Chairman and wish to clarify that the purported suspension of distinguished Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, is hereby lifted and he is confirmed as a bonafide member and leader of our party.

“The Chairman, Kaduna State Chapter has been directed to inform the relevant ward and local government chapters appropriately and also put the necessary mechanism (in place) towards complementing the efforts of the national leadership towards ensuring lasting peace and unity in the party.”

But rejecting the directive, the Kaduna APC, in a statement by its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Salisu Wusono, contended that the constitution of the party did not confer any power on the national leadership of the party to quash decisions made at the state, local government and ward levels.

The Kaduna APC, while stressing that it would not sacrifice its cohesion, discipline and unity for political expediency, stressed that it had for long and consistently battled to uphold respect for the party’s constitution.

“Therefore, we affirm the indefinite suspension of Shehu Sani for serial indiscipline and violations of the party’s constitution, and further clarify that the constitution of our party does not bestow any powers on the national headquarters to quash the decisions of the ward, local government and state executive of the party.

“You cannot join the party at your ward level, proceed to treat the same party with the utmost contempt for three years, then delude yourself into a belief that the national headquarters can now declare you a saint, and impose you on the state party.

“The party shall support only those who uphold its substance and spirit, and it cannot condone the opportunism of people who, having used the APC to get to the Senate, began rebelling against it as soon as they got to Abuja,” the Kaduna APC said.

The state APC said Sani had violated the various offences listed in Article 21A (i-xi) of the APC Constitution, stressing that the senator’s indefinite suspension had become inevitable as “we are not a party of ‘anything goes’.”

“The process for his suspension was initiated in December 2015 by the party executive in Ward 6, Kaduna South Local Government Area, which suspended him for 11 months. Shehu Sani’s indiscipline, his disrespect for the APC, and the whole notion of party spirit persisted during the first suspension. Therefore, it was extended to an indefinite suspension, with the endorsement of the State Executive Committee of the party.

“Since 2015, Shehu Sani has engaged in unremitting hostility towards the APC, joining the gang-up against the party in the Senate. At the national level, the utterances in which he has ridiculed the party and President Buhari are well chronicled.

“In Kaduna State, Shehu Sani has since July 2015 opposed everything the APC and the government it installed has tried to do.

“On security, education, law and order, and social welfare issues, he shamelessly diverged from party position with an enthusiasm and recklessness that even the opposition parties in the state did not demonstrate.

“We recall the undisguised glee with which he denied Kaduna State the $350m loan the World Bank had adjudged the state eminently qualified to access. This loan was to help improve lives by building more schools, hospitals and vital infrastructure. We cannot sit with such a renegade except he can reverse course and ensure that we get our loan, among other conditions,” the Kaduna APC added.

PUNCH