Shehu Sani accused of offering N10m to APC election panel to get him returned unopposed

KADUNA Central Senatorial District lawmaker Senator Shehu Sani has been accused of offering a bribe of N10m ($27,500) to get himself returned unopposed as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in next year's elections.

Over the last month, the ongoing battle between Senator Sani and Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State came to the fore, threatening to tear the APC chapter in the state apart. Senator Sani had been given an automatic ticket to stand again but Governor El-Rufai refused to accept this, saying that the legislator must be punished for his role in denying the state access to a World Bank loan.

Consequently, fresh elections were later conducted in which Mallam Uba Sani, the special adviser to the governor emerged victorious with 2,088 votes to the senator’s 15. However, the result was scoffed at by Senator Sani, who refused to participate in the elections, calling them a kangaroo charade, pointing out that the party had already adopted him as its candidate.

Upping the ante further, Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, the chairman of the APC electoral panel which presided over the party’s recent primaries in Kaduna State, alleged that Senator Sani offered him a bribe to get an affirmation for his automatic ticket. He revealed this while responding to allegations that the committee was bribed to skew the primary election results in favour of some aspirants in the state.

Mr Iduoriyekemwen said: “The only person in Kaduna State who offered me money was Senator Shehu Sani through one of my committee members, to inform me that N10m gift was set aside for the committee chairman and I said we didn’t need the money, asking them what the money was for. Even after the primaries, before the announcement  of results, Senator Sani and his men put pressure on us to come and take the money, he called me several times but we made it clear to him that we didn’t  need cash inducement  at all.”

Pointing out that Senator Sani made several attempts to get in touch with him, Mr Iduoriyekemwen, who is also a former majority leader of the Edo State House of Assembly and one-time board member of the Niger-Delta Development Commission, expressed satisfaction with the manner in which the election was conducted, describing it as peaceful, orderly  and rancour-free. He added that he was ready to forward the telephone number of his committee member through  whom the pledge of N10m offer was offered to the panel.

However, in a swift reaction, Senator Sani described the allegation against him as frivolous and mischievous. Speaking through his media aide, Abdulsamad Chima Amadi, Senator Sani said it was ludicrous to claim he offered to bribe the panel when he had no challenger.

Mr Amadi said: “Our attention has been drawn to a mischievous and frivolous news making the rounds that the chairman of the Kaduna APC electoral panel purportedly claimed he was offered financial inducements by Senator Shehu Sani. The committee chairman probably had a dream to that effect, as it is laughable for him to claim an aspirant who was the sole candidate cleared in Kaduna Central offered him financial inducements.

“First of all, Senator Shehu Sani virtually had no rival in the primaries. He was the only person cleared, so what does he need to bribe the committee for?

“Secondly, when the committee and the state government connived to stage a fake senatorial primaries in Kaduna State, Senator Shehu Sani made it crystal clear that he was not going to participate in the so called primaries because it was an illegality. So when you look at it  from all angles, Senator Shehu Sani had no reasons whatsoever to bribe the committee.

“Senator Shehu Sani is a distinguished and law abiding citizen who has over the years earned a good name for himself through his uncompromising stance against corruption. It is obvious that some desperate politicians who have become synonymous with failure are behind these baseless and frivolous accusations."

He added that just like all their attempts to malign, frame up, intimidate and harm Senator Sani in the past failed, this one too has failed on arrival. According to Mr Iduoriyekemwen, no amount of blackmail will deter or distract Senator Sani as he stands by the mandate given to him by the APC and good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District.