2019: El-Rufai is working against APC, says Sen Shehu Sani

Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) has accused Governor Nasir El-Rufai and his aide, Uba Sani of working against the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The lawmaker said the duo, for selfish reasons and desperation, went against the court order which he obtained to stop a parallel primary, which purportedly produced Uba Sani as a senatorial candidate.

Recently, El-Rufai’s attempt to block Sani from returning to the Senate failed as the APC national leadership affirmed his candidature.

But the governor insists his aide, Uba Sani, will be the party’s flag bearer for the district in 2019.

Reacting, Sani’s lawyer, Awwal Marafa, on Tuesday said the purported primary was null and void as the court order which they got had not been vacated and cannot be vacated before October 15 when the case comes up.

According to him, evidences abound that Uba is not an aspirant of the party since he was not cleared to contest the primary.

Marafa said official documents from the party, signed by the National Chairman, and statement by the Acting National Publicity Secretary, does not contain Uba Sani’s name as a cleared aspirant to contest the primary.

According to him, APC’s website also does not contain Uba Sani’s name as one of those cleared to contest the primary.

He said: “Uba Sani rushed to the Kaduna High Court on October 3 and got a ruling to stop the Kaduna Central Senatorial primary from holding until the case is heard on October 15.

“Yet, Uba Sani and possibly Governor El-Rufai violated their court order without withdrawing the case by blackmailing and forcing the Electoral Panel to conduct the primary.

“Conducting a primary election in violation of a substantive court order renders the exercise invalid and a nullity. Uba is neither an aspirant nor a candidate because he was never cleared to contest.

“By law, Uba cannot claim to be an aspirant or a candidate by violating a substantive court order he obtained without following due process of withdrawing the case which can only happen on the 15th of October.

“By the party constitution, Uba Sani stands automatically expelled from the party for taking the national chairman and the party to court without exploring internal mechanism for resolution.

“The result sheet of the primaries conducted by the panel in violation of the party’s standing rules and in violation of a subsisting court order is a nullity”.