How APC can avert repeat of 2015 NASS leadership crisis – Shehu Sani

Senator representing Kaduna Central zone in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani, bared his mind on how the ruling APC can avert repeat of the 2015 leadership crisis in the NASS. In this interview with Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Sani also tells Buhari what to do in his second term. As he speaks on security challenges in Kaduna and his battle against his opponent in the election petitions tribunal. Excerpt

THE 2019 General Elections have come and gone. As a player in the election, what is your assessment of the whole process?

Well, let me say we have passed the first phase. We are now in the second phase, which is the litigation aspect of it, where the candidates have gone to the court to challenge the outcome of the polls. We cannot say this election was perfect; actually there is no perfect election anywhere in the world. But the expectation on this election was very high, in view of the standard that was set in 2015. Many things have come into electoral lexicon of Nigeria today, which have to do with inconclusive elections and some issues that have to do with lack of clear definition of which election could be termed inconclusive. There is also the violent aspect of the election; the killings that have happened during these elections are something that we have to all condemn.

I think if we are to score these elections, we can say that achievements have been recorded, but there are areas that actually need to be put straight; the issue of money politics was a case of incumbents clearly buying votes. And also the role played by the Police and the Army in most parts of the country is condemnable. There is also the very fact that the foundation of these crises also has to do with the inability of the politicians to play the game fairly and squarely. These are all fundamental issues that have seriously undermined the integrity of this election. But, I believe we cannot throw the baby away with the bath water. We now have a judiciary that has started doing a wonderful job in some certain places and the outcome of the cases that are before the courts will further either give credit to the elections or seriously prove how worthless the process is.

Compared to the 2015 elections, which one would you say is better?

Well, there are elements of 2015 elections, many things were introduced now, that were not introduced in 2015. First of all, we must commend the fact that Jonathan made it very clear that, no blood of any Nigerian is worthy of his own ambition, and he went further to demonstrate it by conceding defeat. But, as of now, we have seen desperation on the side of the governors in their attempt to hold on to power. We have seen how public resources were used to buy votes. We have seen how the security agencies became the armed wing of the state government. We have also seen how electoral officials themselves were intimidated and manipulated.

There is no political party that can say the election has been free and fair. The APC in Akwa Ibom are complaining that they have been rigged out, that the Army and Police sided with the ruling party in the state. The APC in Rivers are raising the same issue. And in other states like Kano, the PDP are saying that they have been short-changed and that violence was used. So, if you look at it, in the area of vote buying, in the area of violence and manipulation of and use of security agencies, the election has not proven to be better than that of 2015.

But, in the general sense like I have said, whether what was done was right or wrong, will also be dependent on what the judiciary will be able to do in the coming election. It is natural for those who won to say the election was free and fair, while those who lost will say it is not fair. But, we have seen that the political elite have carefully embraced and included thugs and thugery as part of the political institution. And if we continue to use violence to achieve our political objective, we will continue to do serious damage to the integrity of our democracy itself. A society like ours that is desirous of good leadership cannot get it right when leaders have to buy their ways into power or use violence to assume the position of leadership.

As a legislator, what would you be recommending to better this democratic process?

You see, what we are facing today is a direct result of the failure of the successive administrations in Nigeria to implement the much needed reforms that could have addressed some of these issues and advanced us forward. The Nnamani report was dumped, the Awesu report was also dumped. You see a systematic pattern of disregard and also refusal by different governments to implement electoral reforms. Why most governments refuse to implement electoral reforms is because they benefit from the failure and weaknesses of the electoral system as it exists today. They don’t want to reform the election because if they do it, it is going to undermine their power base and make it difficult to retain power.

For now, the task before the next Assembly is to implement the much needed electoral reforms, to establish electoral offences commission, and to remove the burden of registering political parties from INEC and leaving it with only the responsibility of conducting elections and not arresting electoral offenders. When we unbundle INEC, it would be able to concentrate more on the responsibility of conducting elections.

So, as far as I am concerned, electoral reform is very important for us to have better elections in the future.

Can’t electronic voting address all these challenges?

You see, we learn as we move forward; electronic voting, the use of card reader, the use of PVC, punishment for those who unleash mayhem and buy votes, are all necessary tools that we need to take, in order to millions of voters? So, I think we need to adopt and include the necessary technological instruments that are needed for us to have a perfect election difficult for anyone to manipulate. When people get into office by simply manipulating the electoral process, they will not represent the people; they will be representing a certain class of people to the detriment of the overall interest of the people. perfect our electoral process. We are living in a technological world. Questions need to be asked, if banks can handle over hundred million in their data base and they are not having system failure and they are able to account for every kobo, why should we live in the same century where an electoral body is still having problem dealing with few millions of voters? So, I think we need to adopt and include the necessary technological instruments that are needed for us to have a perfect election difficult for anyone to manipulate. When people get into office by simply manipulating the electoral process, they will not represent the people; they will be representing a certain class of people to the detriment of the overall interest of the people.

Let’s come back to your own election. You are challenging the victory of the ruling party candidate, what are issues you are taking to court?

Yes, we have made it very clear that the National Assembly election in Kaduna was marred with fraud and corruption. We have cases of places where election did not take place; they simply thumb-printed, with the assistance of the security agencies in Birnin Gwari and Giwa. We have cases where even the INEC officials were denied, they were simply removed and replaced by certain persons. We have cases of where we had over voting. We have cases where people were disenfranchised from voting. We have cases of vote allocation. So, to us, this election was a complete fraud. We have evidence and documents. We are going to court to demand for justice.

Considering your popularity and the way the election went, would you say leaving the ruling party is part of the problem?

No. My position is that, every vote I have gotten, people voted me for my credibility, my principles, and my ideals. They voted me for what I stand for. But, every vote the APC candidate got was given to Buhari. What this implies is that, people who voted for the APC candidate voted for Buhari, but those who voted for me, voted for the candidate. So, I am proud of every vote that I have gotten, because it is genuine and it is from the heart. So, there is a sense of satisfaction. Where we have problem is if you don’t count my votes, if you suppress my votes and count the votes of people you prefer, that is very wrong.

Any regret leaving the APC?

There is no regret, because the party has treated us badly. We gave our lives, our blood, our sweat to build the party. I reached out to every nook and corner with people who we worked together. Even in 2015, they didn’t like us but it was impossible for them to stop us because they were not in position of power. But now, the governor of the state now has the state resources, he has contacts more than he had in 2015.

What is responsible for banditry around Birnin Gwari, ethno-religious crisis in Kajuru, as well as farmers/herders clashes in other places? And what is the way out?

In Birnin Gwari, bandits have driven away villages and people can no longer go to their farms. Women, children and the elderly have been kidnapped and the place has become so lawless. In Kajuru, Muslims and Christians are at war with each other. In Southern Kaduna, herdsmen wiped out villages and kidnapped people. The fundamental problem is that the government has not provided adequate equipment and security personnel to really tackle these problems. Secondly, the governor of the state has openly sided with one party of the conflict against the other. He is being perceived to be in support of people from his own ethnic and religious background. If you are a leader presiding over a state that is multi-cultural and multi-religious, for you to be able to strike a balance and bring about peace, you must treat everyone with justice, with equity and fairness. Peace is impossible in a state with a divisive leader, a leader that has shown he is on one side of the crisis. Even if you want to help your own people, you must show the other side that you can also be fair to them.

What can be done to remedy the situation?

The remedy is, for areas where you have ethno-religious crisis, you need justice, fairness and equity to everyone above everything, and for areas where you have banditry, you need to fund our security agencies, support the local vigilante groups, provide materials for them to be able to fight.