'El-Rufai profited from PDP's loot for 14 years,' Senator says

The All Progressives Congress (APC) senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has said the state Governor, Nasir el-Rufai has no moral right to say the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) “destroyed Nigeria in 16 years.”

Sani said that el-Rufai spent 14 years in the PDP, which, according to him, means the Governor also enjoyed the milking of Nigeria's resources during that period.

The senator who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, August 15, also accused el-Rufai of impoverishing the Kaduna indigenes with his programmes and policies.

Sani said: “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.

“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 is 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.

“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.

“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."

Sani said the people who invested heavily in the party have been marginalised, adding that a seeming new group has emerged challenging el-Rufai's dominance and authority in the party.