Senator Shehu Sani (APC Kaduna Central) has said Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State had no justification to blame the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Nigeria’s problems.
Speaking in Abuja on Monday, Sani said all defectors from PDP were part of the party and should not absolve themselves of blame.
He said that the governor was a PDP beneficiary for 14 years out of the 16 years of the party’s reign and as such could not claim to be innocent.
He added that the governor came to limelight through the PDP from 1999 until 2014 when he joined the All Progressives Congress (APC)
“If you google El-Rufai, you will see him from 1999 but if you google Shehu Sani, you will see him from 1989.
“So you can see. He was brought to limelight by virtue of being in the politics of the PDP and he benefitted from their largesse. I laughed at him when he said `the PDP has destroyed Nigeria for 16 years’ while he enjoyed 14 years out of the 16.
“For somebody who has spent 14 out of the 16 years, you cannot say he’s a repented man in two years.
“If you repent in two years, it has to take time to reach people who have never been sinners, like me.
“I have never eaten from the PDP nor have I ever been under their umbrella. But he was part and parcel of it for this period of time,” he said.
He said that the APC was a convergence of forces from other political parties, adding that some of the people who came to the APC still had their PDP mentality.
Sani insisted that the defectors should also carry all attributes of change and not act like they are still in the PDP.
According to him, it is not unusual to have people with PDP mentality still entrenched in the APC.
“They do not want criticism, they do not want contrary opinions, but that is what drove them from that very party.
“When they moved out of the PDP, what they said is that they were denied the right to express themselves on the way the party should be run.
“Nigerians have a very sadly short memory: We forget people who were part and parcel of the destruction of this country simply because they change political parties and then they become saints.
“It is good when you repent, but we should remind you each time you try to insult our intelligence, to tell us that you are clean and every other person is dirty.’’
Sani said that the governor was not making life easy for the common people in Kaduna state.
According to Sani, when the APC took over from the PDP, Kaduna people had expected to witness changes, but rather than change, the government brought policies that imposed hardship on them.
He said that the governor had been out of Kaduna for too long and so did not understand the pains and aspirations of the people.
“Since El-Rufai took over power, he has kept on unleashing one programme after another that further made things difficult for the people.
“We are still within the APC but right now, the problem has gone beyond me and him.
“It also involves stakeholders in the state: the party is divided.
There are people who have invested heavily in the party, they are marginalised, not carried along and a seeming new group has emerged challenging his dominance and authority in the party.
He added that El-Rufai should treat people who contributed to the victory of the party in Kaduna as equals to ensure peace and reconciliations.
He added that the governor should also recognise the poor and refrain from policies that would further impoverish them.
He urged the governor to stop all unwarranted demolition in the state, especially when the land allegedly encroached into belonged to the Federal Government and beyond his jurisdiction.
