2019: Senator Sani speaks on reordering election timetable, governorship ambition

The Senator representing Kaduna Central in the national assembly, Shehu Sani has given reasons the National Assembly decided to reorder the election process ahead of the 2019 general elections.

He also spoke on his reported ambition to replace Gov. Nasir El-Rufai at the Kaduna State Government House.

Talking about his reported aspiration in an interview with Vanguard, the lawmaker said, “In politics, there are things you want and there could be a decision later on what may be or may not be. In the process where reconciliation is taking place now, I think it is in our interest to first of all, according to what the president said, put our ambitions in our pockets and wait for Asiwaju to address the problems.”

On why the National Assembly re-ordered the sequence of elections, he added, “You see, there is an impression of the National Assembly which people have, that there are pro and anti-Buhari senators but I do not think that is true.

“Nobody was elected to be pro or anti. We are all senators and on issues, we vote or decide what our positions should be. Having said that, the re-ordering of the sequence of elections was informed by a number of factors.

“One is the fact that the hitherto position as it were, where you start from the president and end up with the states was one in which we had the “bandwagon” effect.

“Smaller parties felt that each time you had a presidential election and President Buhari wins, it means nobody will win any seat again; it is going to be President Buhari all through.

“So, now, what we are saying is that they should put the presidential election last and that Nigerians have the opportunity to vote for senators and members of House of Representatives; the ones they want, they elect them and those ones they do not want, they reject them.

“The reason for this is very simple. We are trying to avoid mass trials, mass convictions and mass burials of senators and members of House of Representatives. So, by that, we will now allow each person to go to his grave or to be acquitted before “Justice Electorate.”