The audio tape of popular All Progressive Congress (APC) influential politician, Senator Shehu Sani, where he was reportedly lambasting the emergence of Bukola Saraki as the senate president, has emerged online.
An audio of a June 9, 2015 speech by Senator Shehu Sani revealed that the senator, who is now a close associate for Senate President Bukola Saraki, was once unsettled about Mr. Saraki’s emergence as the leader of the upper legislative chamber.
In the audio, the outspoken senator is heard condemning Mr. Saraki’s presidency of the Senate as a setback and a betrayal of All Progressives Congress (APC) by Mr. Saraki.
The audio was recorded in Abuja at a reception held for Mr. Sani shortly after his inauguration as a senator.
In the audio, obtained exclusively by SaharaReporters, Senator Sani also described Mr. Saraki’s controversial election as the Senate president as part of a plot to undermine President Muhammadu Buhari’s government and to possibly impeach Mr. Buhari in order to bring back former President Goodluck Jonathan.
In the audio, Senator Sani, who spoke in Hausa, berated some APC senators, accusing them of betraying their party by conspiring with senators of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to make a PDP senator the Deputy President of the Senate. He vowed to lead a rebellion and a fight to the finish against the powers enthroned at the Senate.
Below is a translation of Mr. Sani’s speech, remarkable because it contradicts the senator’s present stance of servile loyalty to Mr. Saraki to the point that he frequently accompanies the Senate president during his appearances at the Code of Conduct Tribunal where Senator Saraki is facing trial for falsification his asset declaration:
“I would like to begin by extending our appreciation and profound gratitude to you all for leaving your houses and your places of work to be here to witness the inauguration of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Honestly speaking, I will not hide this from you, that today is meant to be a day of celebration for APC but unfortunately it has turned out to be a sad day with regards to what happened.
“During the elections, we called on men and women, boys and girls to come out en masse. Many of them slept on the streets to vote for this party. Despite all of these efforts, not all positions in the Senate are led by APC members [because] some have betrayed the party and connived with PDP to share positions amongst themselves.
“We spent 16 years fighting the PDP; they didn’t give nor share anything with our people. There is no kind of plea that we did not do in the past three weeks for us to unite ourselves in the Senate, but all was in vain.
“There are two people contesting for this position: Ahmed Lawan from Yobe and Bukola Saraki from Kwara. Bukola Saraki knows he is not popular in the APC. The party called him and sat him down, but he refused to listen.
“The President, Muhammadu Buhari, called him and sat down with him but he also refused to listen. He went to sit with David Mark and co and they shared the positions amongst themselves. They connived and appointed him Senate President and they appointed a PDP member as Deputy Senate President, a position that is meant for an APC member.
“After that, they gave the post of Majority Leader to David Mark, a PDP member. So 51 of us are not in support of this, because of the promises I made during campaign that I will fight and expose any evil act in the Senate.
“This is why I said that I will challenge anyone sharing political post with PDP even if I will be the only one. If they like they can invite me, but whether they invite me or not I will never compromise with PDP.
“Our people didn’t vote us to compromise with PDP. As such, I will not compromise. The issue behind this is that there will be problems whenever President Muhammadu Buhari wants to implement something good.
“Already they met PDP members yesterday night. Some PDP members met us yesterday that they will support us if we can assure them of some positions, but we rejected their offer. But they went and met Bukola Saraki, together with Yariman Bakura and connived and gave big positions to the party that is not the winning party.
"As such, it is not the position that I am worried about, but the promise I made to you that I will never connive with PDP members. For this reason, I will not keep silent because of what will be given to me. So, whenever you hear some members of the Senate rebelling against the leadership of the Senate, I am their leader.
“What happened today was, President Muhammadu Buhari this morning sent us a text message for all of us to meet at the International Conference Center in order to mediate between Ahmed Lawan and Bukola Saraki. But they rejected the invitation and went on to connive with PDP members that gave him Senate leadership.
“Therefore, I want whoever is here present to know this before you start hearing it in the media. If care is not taken, all the struggles we did in the last 16 years fighting PDP would be in vain. I will not hide anything from you: the enemies are not in the PDP but within the APC.
“Their secret and evil plan is to sabotage this government so that President Buhari cannot do anything and at the end impeach him to bring Jonathan back. Imagine APC members conniving with PDP members rather than to come for unity. This is the reason we met here with you today, to emphasize my commitment to you that my senatorial post differs from the previous senators you were used to.
“I promise that whatever I get in the Senate will be made known to everyone and will be shared based on that. We’ve started fighting with some of them, some have even stopped talking to me, not knowing that I am not bothered.”
Source: SaharaReporters
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