A former Kaduna lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, said he
lost his senate re-election bid in 2019 because he opposed former Governor of
Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai’s move to obtain a $340 million foreign loan.
Sani, who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial
District in the Eighth Senate, stated this in an interview with the News Agency
of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.
“I was insistent on speaking truth to power, and that
was why I lost my re-election bid in 2019. Former Gov. Nasir El-Rufai was going
for a $350 million loan and we said ‘No’.
“Some of us told him that such a venture would impact
negatively on our people, but he went ahead and did that, while he perceived us
as his political enemies.
“This political battle with El-Rufai affected several
other politicians, resulting in our leaving the party en masse.
“My own very case was that I stood up to the governor
and I paid the price by losing my seat,” he said.
The popular pro-democracy activist, however, said that
today, he had been vindicated.
“At that time, the governor was opposed to me; the
state assembly members were opposed to me and many political figures there were
opposed to me.
“Today, I am vindicated because even the governor of
the state today has made it public how the finances and the economy of the
state have been strangulated by that loan.
“Many projects were littered, uncompleted and
abandoned all over the state. Kaduna today has become the second highest
indebted state in the country.
“So I am vindicated, even though I lost my seat,” he
said.
Sani said he was satisfied with the role he played on
the controversial loan at that time.
“I’m satisfied that, at least, when I die, nobody will
look to my grave and say this is the person who signed an approval for the loan
that we are going to pay in 100 years.
“The vindication is more important to me than my
return to the National Assembly,’’ he said.
The former lawmaker attributed the failure of most
members of the National Assembly to return to their refusal to be loyal to
their governors.
This, he said, often resulted in high turn-out of
lawmakers in each election year.
Sani, however, said that the high number of new
lawmakers in national and state houses of assembly at every election year was
not the best for Nigeria’s democracy.
He said that in the developed world, such as India and
the United States, some lawmakers would be in the legislature for 30, 40 and 50
years.
“But in Nigeria, if you are a senator and you are fond
of standing up every time to speak truth to power, you will hardly come back to
that National Assembly.
“If what you are doing or saying is particularly
contrary to the interests of the governor of your state, you will not come back
to the National Assembly,’’ he said.
The former senator also said that irrespective of a
lawmaker’s qualifications, he could only emerge as senate president or speaker
of the house if he happened to be the favourite of the executive.
“It’s only during Buhari’s time that a mistake was
made in 2015 which made Buhari lose the election at the National Assembly.
“Then his adversary Sen. Bukola Saraki and Yakubu
Dogara took over and you could see what happened for four years.
“ So, if you are elected as a governor of a state,
your life is dependent on the state assembly and you cannot allow your enemy to
take over.
“So, you will bring someone whose first qualification
is not that he speaks good English, second qualification is not that he is
competent, third qualification is not that he is good looking and fourth
qualification is not that he knows how to make laws.
“The first qualification of a person who is going to
be a speaker is that he is 100 per cent loyal to the governor or the
president,’’ Sani said.
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