APC CRISIS: WE ‘THE PERSECUTED’ ARE EXITING PHARAOH’S EGYPT - SHEHU SANI

Posted by Tony Okechukwu           

A Nigerian senator, Shehu Sani, has once again hinted of his imminent departure from the ruling All Progressives Congress, capturing his irreconcilable differences with the party in biblical terms.

“We the persecuted are on Exodus, riding on horses, chariots and caravans, departing Pharaoh Thutmose’s Egypt; we are now at the coast of the Red Sea, about to leave the land of cruelty and injustice,” Mr Sani said on Facebook Thursday.
                                                             
The poetic senator has frequently deployed his talent in throwing subliminal jibes at those he considers his key opponents on the political battlefield.
                                                               
An hour before his comments about leaving “the land of cruelty and injustice”, Mr Sani posted a poem that seemed to aptly capture the ongoing commotion in the APC and the concerns critics have raised against President Muhammadu Buhari.

In what he tagged ‘Poem for the Broom’, Mr Sani wrote:
“The Broom should sweep the litters, the waste and the garbage it encounters and not pluck the eyes of the sweeper. The Broom must not be stained with oil or blood for it to sweep so clean.
                                                           
“The Broom must be Broom and not swords or chains or else it’s not Broom. The Broom should be an assembly of strands to sanitize and not arrows for hunting.

“The Broom should not bare the dirt of foes to the podium and bury that of friends under the carpet. The Broom must not sweep away only men who speak and leave behind men with swords.

“The Broom must not remove the cobweb afar and leave untouched the cobwebs anear. The Broom can only clean if it’s also clean.”
                                                             
Mr Sani, a lifelong activist, has been locked in a fierce confrontation with Governor Nasir El-Rufai over Kaduna State’s structure of the APC, as well as other policy disagreements.             
He has often called on Mr Buhari to display neutrality and fairness if he would meddle in the fight, but his recent comments have shown that he is not comfortable with the way the president has been displaying closer ties with Mr El-Rufai.

The crisis escalated in April after the police summoned Mr Sani for explanation about what he knew of a murder that occurred in Kaduna.                                               
His supporters accused Mr El-Rufai of being behind the plot, a claim the governor rejected.
                                                             
Mr Buhari does not appear to have publicly taken sides on the matter, but it is believed he endorsed Mr El-Rufai’s grip on the state’s party structure.
                                                             
Mr Sani, elected to the Senate for the first time in 2015, did not participate at the party’s congresses held a few weeks ago.                                                           

He was rumoured to be on his way to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) last month, although he later debunked the claim.


Together with Suleiman Hunkuyi, another APC senator from Kaduna State, Mr Sani threatened to dump the APC in May. Despite regular hints that Mr Sani was plotting to leave the APC, it remained unclear which political party he is bound for.
                                                           

Even though he is considered one of the top allies of Senate President Bukola Saraki, his name has not been mentioned amongst those behind the renegade ‘Reformed APC’ clique that recently emerged.                                 

The bloc is reported to be in talks with the Peoples Democratic Party to devise a formidable alliance against Mr Buhari in 2019, although this scoop has neither been confirmed nor denied by the parties involved.
Source: Corruption Reporters