EXCLUSIVE: Our signatures forged to suspend Shehu Sani – APC ward exco

The Tudun Wada Ward executives of the All Progressives Congress in Kaduna State, on Tuesday dissociated themselves from Monday’s suspension of a senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, from the party.

Mr. Sani was on Monday suspended for a period of 11 months by the party at Tudun Wada Ward, where he registered.

But the Secretary of the ward, Ahmed Abdulhamid; the Public Relations Officer, Auwal MaiAnguwa and ex-officio member, Aminu Alilan, who purportedly signed the suspension letter, told PREMIUM TIMES their signatures were forged.

“Three people were said to have signed the suspension letter. The third person was a delegate and not an ex-officio as stated in the statement.

“The whole letter is forged and none of the ward executive appended his signature or is even aware of the suspension [until it was made public].

“That is why we called for a meeting today to make our positions known to the world.

“What happened was that we had a meeting yesterday and we did not reach any conclusion. It was on that basis that we requested him (Senator Shehu Sani) to come and explain some of the issues raised against him.

“The party shall investigate the sources of this statement because the three executives mentioned to have signed the statement have denied knowledge of it,” Abbas Mohammed, Chairman of Tudun Wada ward of the APC, said.

The ward secretary and the PRO in a chat with PREMIUM TIMES also denied signing the statement, insisting that their signatures were forged.

A PREMIUM TIMES reporter in Kaduna observed that the state party executives and some party leaders met at the state secretariat of the party on Ali Akilu Road on Tuesday.

Some of the party’s leaders, who spoke to our reporter on the condition of anonymity, also denied prior knowledge of the suspension.

“We are not aware of any suspension of Senator Sani. In fact we are convening a meeting now, and we have also summoned him to come,” one of the state executive council members said.

In the suspension letter circulated on Monday, the party said Mr. Sani’s offences were “violating the rules of engagement of the party, factionalizing the party, and engaging in anti-party activities by criticizing the policies of Governor Nasir El-Rufai.”

An aide to Mr. Sani, Suleiman Ahmed, said it was clear that those who wrote the letter were ignorant of the laws guiding the APC.

He said although it was clear from the letter that the people were out to stop the senator from criticizing “the anti-people policies of the El-Rufai administration”, they would not be able to stop him from expressing his views on what affects the people.

“They are toeing the line of the state secretariat of the party, so our reaction is that those who wrote this letter are ignorant of the party’s constitution and they are dancing to the tune of the state executive of the party and Governor Nasir El-Rufai,” he said.