SHEHU SANI RETURNS TO APC,BLAMES EL-RUFAI FOR PARTY'S TROUBLES IN KADUNA.(PHOTO).

 Shehu Sani Returns To APC, Blames El-Rufai For Party’s Troubles In Kaduna

Former senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has explained his decision to return to the All Progressives Congress (APC), blaming ex-Governor Nasir el-Rufai for the party’s losses in the state.

Speaking on Hard Copy, a programme on Channels Television, Sani said Kaduna’s current governor, Uba Sani, facilitated his return by reaching out and mending fences.

“A circumstance led to our mass exit from the APC sometime in 2018, and that circumstance has changed, and then we rejoined the APC in Kaduna State,” he said.

“First of all, I was a founding member of APC, particularly in Kaduna State. We established structures, and we did the campaigns and won the 2015 elections both at the senatorial and the governorship levels, and somewhere along the way, we parted ways with the governor (Nasir el-Rufai) in the state.

“We parted ways over differences that are both political, personal and also issues that affect the state, and for that reason, we had to evict ourselves out of the party. Now we have a new governor who reached out to us.

“A governor who has been making consultations, building bridges across the state and then we also met and agreed that we should return to the party that we founded in Kaduna State.”

On 16 February 2025, Sani and several members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) joined the APC. 

He criticised el-Rufai, accusing him of failing to unite the APC in Kaduna, leading to the party’s defeat in the 2023 elections.

“From my understanding, the former governor of Kaduna state is disgruntled and pained — it’s part of the crisis of entitlement and expectations,” he said.

“But as I posted on my X page, Nasiru was governor for eight years and couldn’t deliver Kaduna to Tinubu. The results are there.

“If Nasiru claims he delivered for Tinubu, the figures say otherwise. For the first time, under him, APC lost all three senatorial seats to PDP. Out of 14 House of Representatives seats, PDP won nine, Labour two, and APC only three.

“He also claims to have brought Uba Sani to office, but let’s check the numbers—PDP’s Isa Ashiru got 719,000 votes, Uba Sani 730,000, just 11,000 difference. Kaduna didn’t vote for Uba because of Nasiru; in fact, Uba lost votes because of him.

“This was a man campaigning for Uba on one hand while publicly ridiculing him on the other.

“Does he believe in reconciliation? When the APC crisis in Kaduna lasted seven years, the party sent Aminu Masari, Segun Oni, Inua Abdulquadri, and John Oyegun to mediate —he refused all.

“His refusal to reconcile with APC forces in Kaduna led to major losses. If he truly believes in reconciliation, why didn’t he practise it in his own state?”

El-Rufai has recently distanced himself from the APC, criticising the party for straying from its founding principles.