Tinubu dodged a bullet by not appointing El-Rufai minister; Kaduna State’s $350m loan was fraudulently obtained from the WB; Christians in Southern Kaduna were treated like slaves, like outcasts, like blacks in South Africa _ Shehu Sani

Senator Shehu Sani, a Kaduna native and prominent lawmaker of the 8th National Assembly, has remained one of the most outspoken critics of Nasir El-Rufai, two terms governor of Kaduna State between 2015 and 2023 .

Sani talked about Nasir El-Rufai, Muhammadu Buhari, his future ambitions and others. In an exclusive interview, the politician bared his thought on El-Rufai’s leadership style, the plight of the people of Southern Kaduna, the economic drought of the state and the relentless killings that happened during his administration.

The former lawmaker also revealed the story behind the controversial $350 million allegedly sourced from the World Bank through fraud.

Responding to cues on bad governance in Nigeria where Nigerians are quick to blame the president, not the state governors, he said “We concentrate so much on what happens at the federal level. Many of our young people in the social media space, you hardly see them talk about their councilors, their local government chairmen, their members of the state house of assemblies, and their governors. They’re only concentrating on what happens in Abuja and that gives space for a lot of abuse with governance and corruption at the local level.

“We need to know we are a federation. If Nigeria earns ₦10,000, half of it goes to the federal government, a quarter of it goes to the state, and a quarter goes to the local government. So we all should take the blame according to the quota of our resources.

“Many of these states have been crippled because of lack of a monitoring system. Governors are emperors, and whatever they want to get, they get it from their state house of assemblies. Just like what happened in Kaduna State. At the time, I was the only one fighting. I’ve suffered a lot of persecution especially when it comes to the issue of this $350 million loan. It will interest Nigerians to know that, that loan was sourced through fraud in the sense that the 8th National Assembly did not approve of that loan.

“We have refused to approve it since 2018 but to our surprise, a month after we left office, money started dropping into the coffers of the Kaduna State Government, which shows that there was a deal between the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank and they were simply waiting for us to leave office. So, Kaduna State’s $350 million loan was fraudulently obtained from the World Bank because the process by which the money should be sourced was not followed.

“Because of that loan, I was vilified in Kaduna. This is a governor who openly called on the people of Kaduna to attack me and my colleagues in the Senate because we refused to allow them to collect money from the World Bank.

So you can see, if people like us don’t stand up to dictatorship at the state level, nobody is going to do that. It’s not simply about the federal government, it’s about what your state does with the money allocated to it.

When asked if he is in support of the probe on El-Rufai’s government, he said: “Well, it’s not about support, it is now that they are joining. They are the ones supporting my position which I have taken when they were on the other side of evil.

On the speculated rift between El-Rufai and his successor, he said,”Well, I don’t know, and it is in the public space. One thing I know very well is that El-Rufai doesn’t know who Uba Sani is and he claimed to have been with him for 20 years but he doesn’t know him. I can stand my ground on that. I don’t think there’s anybody in that state who knows him more than I do and there’s nobody in the state that knows me more than he does.

“I never doubted that a day like this would come. Nothing I have prophesied and predicted about Kaduna that has never come to pass. It’s the state my parents were born, it’s the state I was born, it’s the state I come from and it’s the state where I live with my family.

“When El-Rufai came to contest the governorship, he didn’t know anybody. We are the ones who have been on the ground and since he became a tyrant and an emperor for eight years, he fought me, insulted me, cursed me all because I disapproved of that loan. He incited people against me. Where’s he today? He’s out of power, he’s irrelevant.

“You cannot bring five people today to defend El-Rufai on any media station in Kaduna. This is to show you how empty he is. He has inflicted a lot of hardship on people, he has destroyed the lives of so many people. He has misused and abused power as if there would never be an end to it. The government of Tinubu has dodged a bullet by not appointing him as a minister. He could have destroyed that government from day one.

His greatest mistake is that he thought power is going to be forever and in the course of that, he ruled without mercy and human face. He crushed people, neutralised people, destroyed the lives of so many people, and made our state a laughing stock.

The government of El-Rufai destroyed the economic life of Muslims in the northern part of the state by his actions. He sold the houses belonging to our state government to people many of whom are not from our state. He sold the industries that were built since the time of Balarabe Musa to people we don’t know. He demolished the homes, shops, and the livelihoods of many people. He destroyed the civil service in the state by sacking thousands of workers. He conducted useless aptitude tests and sacked many teachers who were degree holders. In a certain aptitude test he conducted, he determined who passed and who failed.

For the Christians in Southern Kaduna, he treated them like blacks in apartheid South Africa. They were systematically marginalised from the government and terrorists were killing them, burning their houses, inflicting hardship on them and the state government did nothing.

Southern Kaduna in the eight years of El-Rufai was a living hell. The people there were treated like slaves, like outcasts, like blacks in South Africa. And for such a man who ruled without equity and justice, he does not deserve a national position. That is why when his name was mentioned for a ministerial position, I was the first and the last person to consistently campaign against him.

The likes of El-Rufai held Buhari hostage. Do you know that Buhari lived in Kaduna State more than he lived in his state Katsina? He lived in Kaduna for almost 45 to 50 years. Since 2003, the people of Kaduna have been voting for him. Many people were killed in Kaduna because of Buhari, many were arrested because of Buhari, many were persecuted by previous governments because of Buhari.

But I can tell you, since Buhari became the president, the ward he lived in is the same ward I lived in, he has never called for a meeting with his people who are either poor, or who don’t have jobs, or who don’t have admission.

These are the same people who fought for you, who suffered for you. The likes of El-Rufai prevented him from meeting with the people of Kaduna. Buhari boycotted Eid in Kaduna since he became president and went to Daura. Can you tell me any serious federal presence you have seen in Kaduna? But that is where he gave birth to all his children, that is where he lived, that’s where he retired and that is where he became the president of Nigeria in 2015. The people of Kaduna have simply suffered and have not gotten anything from him.

As far as my political future is concerned, it will be dependent on the consultations and the reach out that would happen most likely by next year. It will shape where and what I want to be.

For now, we simply pray for good health and we also pray for Allah’s protection. It’s only Allah that would decide in the end. So, as far as I’m concerned, I leave it to God to decide. But I can assure you that if I am alive and healthy, I am not retired from politics yet, I am still going to aspire for political positions, that one is for sure, but that would be determined by the consultation which I have made.