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Sha’aban Rejects Uba Sani As Consensus Kaduna APC Gov’ship Candidate
One of the governorship aspirants of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State, Sani Mohammed Sha’aban, has described as undemocratic the announcement of Senator Uba Sani as the party’s consensus candidate by Governor Nasir el-Rufai.
Sha’aban who was the governorship candidate of the defunct All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) in 2007 and that of ACN in 2011 before the ANPP, ACN and CPC collapsed to form the APC in 2015 and won the presidential election said, anything short of primaries would be rejected in totality by him and his numerous followers.
The governorship hopeful who was a former member the House of Representatives maintained that, it is an insult on his personality being the first to purchase the governorship form not to be consulted before such position was reached only for him to read it on the pages of dailies that the governor had anointed Senator Sani as APC consensus candidate.
Addressing a press conference in Kaduna, the governorship hopeful said, the party came to power in 2015 and 2019 through democratic process and has enjoyed good will of members, hence the party must not deviate from such democratic norms if must continue to enjoy good will not only from members of the party but Nigerians in general.
“We receive the news of the endorsement of Senator Uba Sani as consensus candidate by Governor Nasir el-Rufai with mixed feelings, because as a founding member of the APC and the first governorship aspirant to purchase the form, I was not contacted on any consensus arrangements which I consider an insult on my person.
“Consensus is undemocratic because democracy is about people and numbers except if the present administration is not concerned about the success of the party in Kaduna State, otherwise the spirit of success of making APC a dynamic party should be respected.
“Government is about fairness, justice and addressing the yearning of the people. APC should be a uniting government and not a divisive government stampeding on the weak. Today, religion has divided us as a people in Kaduna State”.
He therefore reiterated that, his aspiration is among other reasons to give people a sense of belonging and to render selfless service and better the lots of the good people of Kaduna State, stressing, “Nigeria is not under a military dictatorship but democracy, but I am sorry to say that that is not the case in Kaduna State because consensus is being used to deceive people in Kaduna State.
“So, all I am saying is that, we reject in totality any consensus arrangements, it is an attempt to render all delegates useless which is against democratic process, I also wish to make it clear that I cannot be rubbished, because if you rubbish me, I will rubbish you, democratic process must be followed and respected, all those who purchased form must be allowed to go for primaries” he stressed.
Corroborating his position, his campaign director general, Chief Joshua Danladi Ephraim, said, democracy should be about freedom, adding that they would not allow the governor to have his way on any consensus arrangements.
“We will not allow a lawless situation in APC. We call on the party at the national level to monitor the activities of the state, let there be fairness, justice and rule of law because the party is in danger of being seen in bad light if this consensus arrangement is allowed to scale through,” he said.
