A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, andSenator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial constituency, Shehu Sani has lambasted his party over what he referred to as a complete lack of political ideology.
Sani says he wonders if the current crop of leaders in the party understands the ideologies and principles which a political party should be built upon.
Sani gave this insight during an interview with Daily Trust Newspaper where he attributed his ongoing feud with the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai to an obvious ideological disparity which manifested in the formation of the APC, insisting that the party was founded on individualism and a combination of different political tendencies.
“I am not against the success of the governor of my state. But like I have said severally, APC is not a party that is founded on ideology.
“It is a party that is founded by people from different political tendencies, beliefs and pedigrees. And I discovered that I and governor of Kaduna state come from different political tendencies. He is from the right hand of the political divide- they are the Republicans and the conservatives.
“I belong to the left-hand side of the political divide, where you have the progressives and the socialists.”
“He (el-Rufai) is a technocrat, an accidental civil servant and now a State Governor. I came from the background of being an activist, revolutionary and now a Senator. So, we differ, and if you look at people in the right, they believe in privatization or the auctioning of public property and in the removal of subsidy.”
According to Sani, unless leaders of the APC maintain a strong political ideology, the problems which reached a boiling point during the National Assembly leadership crisis would occur again. He added the APC was successful in winning the battle against the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but its most dangerous enemy could be found within.
“In fact, how crisis emanates in APC shows you that our common enemy is gone, now we are facing each other. It is like courtship, everything was smooth, fine and rosy. Now, after the marriage, you face realities of life.”
El-Rufai and Senator Sani have both been at loggerheads, especially on state policies such as demolitions, banning of street hawkers and beggars, which have been tagged “anti-people policies.”
Sani further stated that the battle against el-Rufai would continue as he is determined to be critical of policies which go against his ideology adding that speaking against injustice should cut across political, social or ethnic affiliations.
“If I’m critical of el-Rufai, it is because I was critical of Makarfi when he was Governor. I was critical of Yakowa, when he was Governor. I was critical of Namadi, when he was Governor.
“I was critical of Ramalan Yero, when he was the governor. So, for you to tell me that because we are in the same party I shouldn’t air my views is one of the pains some of us face by being politicians.
“All our life, we don’t believe that there should be a caveat of speaking against injustice or things which you don’t believe in them. I am not speaking to ruin him or his government, I don’t hate el-Rufai, I like him. I want him to succeed.
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