Buhari did not ask Kaduna Gov to punish Shehu Sani – Presidency

chika ebuzor

October 7, 2018 6:32 PM

El-Rufai had earlier claimed that the President directed him to start the process of recalling Shehu Sani over acts disloyalty.

Nasir El-Rufai

The Presidency has denied reports that President Buhari asked the Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai to punish Senator Shehu Sani.

El-Rufai had earlier claimed that the President directed him to start the process of recalling Shehu Sani over acts disloyalty.

The Governor said he had written a letter to Buhari dated October 1, 2018, where he listed the many sins of Senator Sani.

An excerpt of the letter obtained from The Cable reads: “When your excellency traveled to London in April 2018 for medical consultation, Shehu Sani ridiculed it on Facebook as ‘Voyage to London, Season 3.

“In May 2018, he lamented what he said was Buhari’ s three years of failure to protect human lives.

“In the same month, he wrote that ‘Baba should protect his testicle from any man who always bends down to greet him.

“Your excellency will recall that earlier this year, you directed me to initiate processes to recall Shehu Sani from the senate to punish his repeated acts of contempt and disloyalty.

“Following your directive, our team in Kaduna studied what was being done in Kogi state regarding the recall of Dino Melaye and drew up a budget. Upon examination of the costs and loopholes in the recall process as brutally exposed in Dino Melaye’s case, and in recognition of the immense of preparations for the next elections, it was decided that it may be more prudent to oust him at the ballot.

“The party executives in his ward in Kaduna suspended him from APC in December 2015 for negative comments about your excellency. It was later extended to indefinite suspension in 2016.”

El-Rufai also kicked against the automatic Senatorial ticket given to Sani, who is currently the Senator representing Kaduna Central.

Presidency denies

In a statement issued on Twitter via the handle, @NGRPresident, the Presidency denied knowledge of any letter.

The statement reads: “The Presidency wishes to distance President @MBuhari from a letter currently in circulation, which alleges that the President had authorized a Governor or anyone else for that matter to "deal with traitors and disloyal members of APC, especially Senator Shehu Sani.

“We wish to confirm that the President is not aware of any such letter, let alone authorising anyone to deal with any party member. Given President Buhari’s record, it is inconceivable that he would usurp the role of the party leaders and instruct anyone to punish a party member.

“In the light of above, we would like to appeal to the general public, especially members of the press, to ignore false or unauthorized information intended to attribute to the President any action which is not in line with his character.”

ALSO READ:El-Rufai goes spiritual, attacks Shehu Sani with Qur'an verse

More controversy

This is coming as the All Progressives Congress (APC) issued a statement saying that Sen. Shehu Sani remainsits only senatorial candidate from Kaduna Central.

There were reports in the media that Sani lost his Senatorial ticket during a Senatorial primary election which held on Saturday, October 6, 2018, in Kaduna.

Senator Shehu Sani refused to participate in the primaries, describing it as a Kangaroo set up.

chika ebuzor