Tenure extension is like using helicopter to fly over APC problems – Shehu Sani

Senator Sani said this at the weekend in Abuja after a meeting with Engr. Segun Oni-led fact finding committee on Kaduna State APC crisis.

The lawmaker, who noted that the previous two panels led by Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir and Governor Aminu Masara failed to achieve reconciliation in Kaduna State, said all the stakeholders hoped that Tinubu would deploy his skills to “mend the crisis”.

Senator Sani, who said that he was invited by Engr.Oni-led committee to the party secretariat, stated that his faction of the APC was ready for all options presented by Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

He said, “The crisis in the APC has been lingering for a very long time and it has been left to reach such a crescendo whereby the broom automatically transformed to a matchet.

“As you should know that most political parties in Nigeria and in the history of Africa, crisis as a result of an internal purpose is implosion that destroys political parties and it is something that they have to do everything possible to avert.

“Our position is this, that if the governor of Kaduna State is for peace, we are for peace. If he’s for war, we are also for war and a bigger war.

“And that, it is the desire of everyone that we should all come together, to work together, to heal the wounds, in order to restore confidence and hope in the hearts and minds of the millions of Nigerians that voted us in 2015.”

He decried a situation whereby some members were being treated as “outcasts and slaves”, saying that the success of APC in the upcoming elections was dependent on how it would manage the crisis and solve the problems.

“I said it repeatedly that it is wrong for anyone to simply categorise some people as pro-Buhari and some people as anti-Buhari, all of them within APC.

“Everyone who is in the APC is pro-Buhari. But the only thing is that some are not sycophants and some are sycophants,” said Sani.

The lawmaker likened the extension of the tenure of the existing leaders of the party by one year to an attempt by the “stakeholders” to use “helicopters to fly over the problems”.

“We must confront our problems and solve them. I am in support of any effort that is aimed at bringing peace, unity and stability within the party. But it’s also in the interest of the party that we don’t defer our problems and crises. We will solve them.

“There is no problem in the APC that cannot be solved. But you can only solve problems when the contending parties are all ready for the problems to be solved.

“If one person is ready and the other person is not ready, certainly we are not going to make any headway. So, I identify myself with any effort that is aimed at bringing peace,” the lawmaker added.

Senator Sani, however, said that party members could consider the option of leaving the APC if the crisis lingered despite all peaceful moves.

“And as far as I am concerned, everyone has plan B. Even for me, I have plan B, Plan C and Plan D. So, If anybody feels he can enslave me, if anybody thinks he can dictate to me, if anyone feels that this party belongs to him and doesn’t belong to me and I am not needed in the party, there is no way I can continue to remain in the party. After all, it is a free world,” he added.

The lawmaker noted that President Muhammadu Buhari remained the glue that held the APC together, saying “if we don’t have Buhari in the APC, suddenly, everyone will find way to his home.”

Sani added, “So, as he (Buhari) remains the glue, he must also be up and doing in addressing these crises. And part of the problems we are having here is the philosophy of being for everybody and for nobody, it led the party to nowhere.

“As far as I am concerned, I believe that there is a future for this party if every member of the party is treated with equity, justice and fairness.

“We must avoid the symptoms of crisis that destroyed the PDP. It must not come over here. If this problem is not counselled, it is something that can be resolved.”