Governor Nasirul El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Friday insisted that the automatic ticket granted Senator Shehu Sani by the national headquarters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) cannot stand.
Speaking to State House Correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, he described the automatic ticket as a recipe for APC to lose the Kaduna Central Senatorial District seat.
The National Working Committee (NWC) had days ago cleared Sani and disqualified Uba Sani and other aspirants eyeing the ticket. Uba Sani is seen in the state as the preferred candidate.
“Shehu Sani has done things against the interest of the people of Kaduna state and it is time for him to explain why he did what he did and ask the delegates to vote for him but to avoid facing the consequences of your actions by getting what is called automatic ticket is a recipe to losing the election to other parties.
“Shehu Sani was largely responsible for Kaduna State losing a N100 billion loan from the World Bank at 1 percent interest payable over 50 years invested in building our schools and hospitals and infrastructure.
“Everyone in Kaduna knows this and many people are predictably angry. It’s an act of sabotage. It’s time for him to go and explain why he did what he did, if his actions are justified I am sure the delegates will vote for him,” he said.
Challenging Sani, the Governor said Sani cannot campaign in Kaduna central market.
“I challenge him let’s go to Kaduna central market and let’s see who will come out unscathed. It is a well known fact that he had done this and many people are angry. All we ask for is a free and fair contest. We are not going to manipulate any process . Lets have all those that are qualified to contest for democratic competition,” he said.
Asked what was President Buhari’s response, he said the President restated his position that he is a democrat, product of elections and he has never encouraged non election.
“He has never supported imposition and he has never asked anyone to grant anybody automatic tickets. The position was restated yesterday to the progressive governors forum and he told me this and said he will take necessary steps to communicate this very clearly to the party leadership,” he said.
