Sha’aban’s agony is that “Nigeria has been hijacked by a clique since 1999 till date†and that “you either belong or you are booted out.â€
Ask Sha’aban who the cliques are and you will get an answer like this: “Of course, it’s like a shadow. You go to Ota Farms and find out. You go to Katsina and all other places. If you belong there, you are sure.â€
Sha’aban says Nigeria’s problem is not with her Constitution but what he describes as bad leadership.
He sounded more caustic when asked about his opinion on electoral areas that need reformation. Hear him: “If you want my true and honest opinion, as far as electoral reforms are concerned, I think we are just going round the circle. I think the government of the day is not sincere about it.â€
The Federal Government recently approved independent candidacy in future elections. However, the ANPP Gubernatorial candidate in Kaduna State shot it down. He says the issue is confusing. “….It is not very feasible because, you cannot say you are going to fight the issue of money in politics and at the same time you are opening room for independent candidature,†he posits.
Shaâ€aban, a former member of the House of Representatives is disappointed with the clean bill of health given to Prof. Maurice Iwu, INEC Chairman when they passed a vote of confidence on him. He believes such an accolade is undeserving of a man who plunged the nation into a controversial electoral fever.. “Maurice Iwu has become untouchable. I am not surprised that the National Assembly could come out and pass a vote of confidence on him because he holds the whistle.
He reasons that the legislators fronted for Iwu because most of them did not merit being in the National Assembly. “From the first man to the last man, what percentage of the National Assembly members can beat their chest and say yes, I came out, I contested and I have the mandate of my people who voted me into office and I am qualified,†he says.
Clad in a flowing white babariga with a cap to match, Alhaji Sani Sha’aban, has come to bare his mind on both national and state political issues he says are casting Nigeria in the mould of a rudderless society.
The Court of Appeal in Kaduna penultimate Friday affirmed the election of Arc Mohammed Namadi Sambo as the duly elected Governor of Kaduna State. but Sha’aban says technicalities aside, he was deliberately done in by the Court of Appeal justices. He is alleging foul play. And if his threat is anything to go by, the end is yet to be heard of his case against the justices and Governor Namadi Sambo.
Sha’aban says the judiciary more than any other arm of the government of Nigeria have foisted dictatorship on Nigeria. How? “They protect the few cliques that have hijacked the affairs of this country. The President came out and said nobody is above the rule of law. Is he himself practicing that,†he asks in reply to the question. To him, criminals have shot their ways into the ruling class in Nigeria. He says only a God fearing judiciary can remove Nigeria from the throes of backwardness.
Obviously angry with an electoral system he says allows for manipulation on the path of politicians and the judiciary, Sha’aban insists he won the Kaduna State gubernatorial election. “I have the official results. People voted for me. I ran a campaign in Kaduna State that has never been witnessed in this part of the country. We used a convoy of about 300 vehicles. We slept on the roads. Everywhere we went to, every village and every community, people were trekking for five, six or seven kilometers, both the young and the old to receive us enmasse. It’s the peoples vanguard. I don’t have the resources to do that.
“In every occasion, you find people contributing the vehicles and people were fuelling their cars, abandoning their trades and were all within the nooks and corners of Kaduna State. So, if anybody could come out and say he has won; in what part of Kaduna State did he win,†he asks.
Sha’aban spoke about credible voting system for Nigeria and other sundry issues bothering on Nigeria’s political systems.
