Shehu Sani returns to APC as Kaduna Gov welcomes Yero, Hunkuyi, Laah, other defectors
…as Senator Usman mocks Gov ‘for renting crowd’
By Tunde Opalana
In a realignment move, activist and former Kaduna Central senator, Shehu Sani at the weekend rail- raided back to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
His defection came after a brief sojourn in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) moment he lost his re- election bid into the 9th Senate.
But at the weekend, the outspoken lawmaker realigned fraternity with his old political associates in the APC when the governor of Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani was said they have welcomed 22 politicians from different opposition
camps into the ruling party in the state, the APC at a rally which took place in Murtala Muhammed Square, Kaduna.
Other notable defectors include Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in 2023; Muktar Ramalan Yero, a former governor of Kaduna State and Sani Shaaban, a former member of the House of Representatives.
Others decampees are Senator Danjuma Laah, Abubakar Mustapha, Jafaru Kurmin Kogi, Donatus Mathew, Amos Gwamna Magaji, Henry Marah Zachariah, Samuel Kozah Kambai, Emmanuel Kantiok, Sule Buba, Yakubu Umar Barde, Mato Dogara, Micheal Auta, Joseph Almajiri Ciroma, Idris Zangon Aya, Muhammad Mahmud Aliyu, Usman Baba and Seth Bakut.
READ ALSO: Binance: We’ll refrain from further comment – House spokesman
A statement from the Kaduna State Governor’s office said the defectors decided to join the ruling APC because of Governor Sani’s administration’s “inclusive and people-centred policies and programmes”.
He said the new APC members are committed to mobilising more people for the party.
In the statement by the spokesperson of the governor of Kaduna State, Ibrahim Musa, the governor said “I thanked the decampees, party stakeholders as well as citizens who turned out in their thousands for the Stakeholders Meeting and grand rally.
“I assured the decampees of our support to ensure their smooth integration into our dear party.
“While expressing our gratitude to our party faithful for their steadfastness and loyalty, I urged them to remain committed to the ideals of our party. Let us work together to build a better future for our people and state”.
However, Senator Lawal Adamu Usman representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the 10th Senate mocked the rally as ‘rented crowd’.
He said Governor Uba Sani put together the rally as a ‘face saving’ for the lack of support by the people.
The lawmaker believed that supporters who turned out for the rally were not organic and challenged the governor to conduct an election within the state to test his popularity.
In a post on his facebook wall on Saturday, Senator Lawal Adamu Usman wrote: “APC is like Papalolo in Kaduna State. If you truly knew you had the support of your rented crowd, why didn’t you allow the conduct of election in at least one ward within the State.
“Even the governor could not cast his vote at his polling station during the time”.
Shehu Sani’s Political Sojourn
In October 2018, towards the tail end of his representation at the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani, who represented Kaduna Central, dumped the APC aftermath controversies that trailed the party’s primaries ahead of the 2019 elections.
He was cleared by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC as the sole candidate for the senatorial seat to enable him secure re-election into the Senate but his ambition was cut short by the then governor of the state, Nasir el-Rufai, who influenced the seeding of the parry’s ticket to the incumbent governor, Uba Sani, who was then his ally.
This forced the former senator out of APC to the opposition PDP where he secured the party’s senatorial ticket but lost the 2019 election to the Kaduna governor.
In 2023, Uba Sani became governor on the platform of the APC with support from el-Rufai but the relationship turned sour barely a year later.
