Former lawmaker in the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani, shares his thoughts with JUWE OLUWAFEMI and GODWIN ISENYO on Governor Uba Sani’s recent alarm over the current economic situation in Kaduna State, among other issues
In 2019, Governor Nasir El-Rufai sent Uba Sani (now the Governor of Kaduna State) to the Senate, to get a $350m loan. You were consistently against the former governor over these issues that are now cropping up. Do you feel justified?
Before any state can assess any loan or domestic loan, there are laid down criteria, and the Debt Management Act 2007 has made all these things very clear; no state can access any foreign loan without the assent of the Federal Government. If the House of Representatives approves a loan and the Senate doesn’t approve, you also cannot get access to the loan.
But what are the other conditions a state must embrace before having access to a loan?
There are five conditions under which a state must be able to provide information on that. As the chairman Senate Committee on Foreign and Local Debt, I have to do my job diligently. The first condition is that you have to tell us how much you want to borrow, and the second condition is that you have to tell us what you want to do with the money. The third condition is how you are going to pay the money, while the fourth condition is how safe it is for other finances and other issues of governance in your state if you get the loan. Will they be affected or not? The fifth condition is that you have to convince us of the transparency of managing these funds you borrow.
When foreign Institutions are borrowing from a state government, they’re not borrowing from a state government; they’re borrowing from the federation. It is the Federal Government that stands as surety for the state. As for the issue of the Kaduna State loan, it was facilitated by a former Minister of Finance, whereby the World Bank granted Kaduna State $350m and granted Ogun State a $350m loan. However, the delegation from Ogun State was able to convince the National Assembly that they had the IGR and the resources and that because of their proximity to Lagos, they could comfortably repay this loan without adversely affecting the finances of the state. In the case of Kaduna State, they were not able to convince us.
Why was your state not able to convince the Senate for a loan?
Kaduna State only depends on federal allocations, as 90 per cent of Kaduna State industries are dead. The IGR that Kaduna State had been boasting of under Nasir El-Rufai comes from extortions on lands and over-taxation. It is not that it was an IGR that was coming from commercial or industrial activities. Now, that is not sustainable. So, the state government was not able to convince us that if that money was given to Kaduna State, the state would not get into trouble.
Again, Kaduna State had an outstanding debt of over $230m which was accrued since the First Republic that had not been paid, and when I put the sum El-Rufai was asking for and what was on the ground, I just knew Kaduna would get into serious financial trouble if we approved that loan. I consulted with my other two senators, which is the rule in the Senate. Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi from Kaduna North Senatorial Zone and Senator Danjuma Laah from Kaduna-South Senatorial District, and I went to the general House and made my stand on the $350m loan, that whoever is going to take over power will not be able to run the governance of affair because the payment of that loan was structured in such a way that it will be after Nasiru El-Rufai that payment will start.
Why do you say so?
From the way it was done, you will know there was a deliberate attempt to cripple governance after El-Rufai. So, I objected to it, and from the very day the Senate turned down the Kaduna State request for that loan, the war between me and El-Rufai escalated. He gathered the people of Kaduna State at the Ranchers Stadium and cursed me. He (El-Rufai) called us the enemies of the state.
But I didn’t bother knowing full well that the man wanted resources from the World Bank to do some cosmetics beautification of Kaduna and leave power with a burden that we cannot pay. When it came to the time I was to be re-elected into the office, I was blackmailed either to approve the loan or I would never return to the Senate, and that he was going to get somebody who was going to do that. I said I didn’t care because my conscience, my principle, and my conviction would not allow me to approve the loan, and I objected to it.
Do you think you took a patriotic stand knowing well that the $350m will attract development to a state that you’re representing as a senator when the former governor was looking at the immediate effect and not the future consequences?
If you borrow money, the money should be used for investment. Nasiru el-Rufai was not borrowing money to invest in agriculture, manufacturing industry, mining, and ICT in Kaduna State, he was borrowing money to beautify Kaduna State and I don’t know how beautification of the state can pay a loan. It was patriotism that made me not approve that loan because if not, I would have approved the loan and got my second term ticket and today, Kaduna State would have been in trouble.
I didn’t go into politics as a politician; I went into politics as an activist and one who is conscious of history and conscious of the needs of the masses and has dedicated his life to the struggle for justice, freedom for economic emancipation of the poor. I don’t see myself appending my signature to a loan that will at the end of the day impoverish my people, strangle the economy of the state, and bring down whoever is going to take over government after El-Rufai. If that loan had been invested in agriculture, mining of solid minerals, or industry, it (Kaduna State) could have been paying that loan. In Kakuri about 90 per cent of our industries are dead.
Those industries could have generated money to enable the state to pay that loan. Today, we’re living in the moment of truth. The loan was given after I left office; the loan was spent and he left power with hundreds of uncompleted projects and debts of over N100bn and a debt of $350m we need to pay. I had predicted this; we borrowed $350m when the value of the naira was N400 to a dollar and we’re going to pay when it is over N1000 to a dollar. So, Kaduna State alone has a debt net of about N880bn when you convert it to naira.
But some other northern states are also borrowing money. Why do think that Kaduna State is wrong to have requested a loan?
The entire North-West, including Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kebbi states, has only a total debt of less than N650bn. Now, can you compare the infrastructure development in Kaduna State with that of Kano State? Why is Kano State not indebted like Kaduna State? During the time of El-Rufai, when you asked them what they had done with the $350m loan, they’d tell you that they built a bridge in Kawo. Now, can that bridge generate money like an ATM to pay that money (loan)? This was how Kaduna State was ruined.
Unfortunately, many of the people who are talking in the state today were complicit; they joined in attacking my person. Protests were organised by women and youth groups in support of the loan. Clerics and politicians were supportive of El-Rufai’s loan. Many people in Kaduna State could not stand and fight him because he had cowed them; they were afraid of their houses being demolished or their being arrested. El-Rufai neutralised the people of Kaduna, hypnotised them, and stabilised them to the point that people were afraid to confront him.
So, do you think you have been vindicated by current developments in the state?
What’s happening to me today is a miracle; it is God who has vindicated me and posterity that now, we have been officially told that the money borrowed by Nasiru El-Rufai while he was in office has affected the economy of the state to a point that the state government cannot pay salary. Now, if you say the man has invested $350m in infrastructure in Kaduna State, is water not part of the infrastructure? Go to hospitals in Kaduna State, there are no MRS or dialysis machines.
The world has seen the kind of schools in which the students from Kuriga were kidnapped. Use the Google and find it. Can you tell me education is not an infrastructure? As far as I am concerned, it was a prophecy that I made about Kaduna State, and it has come to pass. I am not Reverend Father Mbaka or (Pastor Enoch) Adeboye, and I am not one of these known Nigerian prophets. I prophesised what Kaduna State will fall into and it has come to pass.
What advice will you give Governor Uba Sani since he was the instrument used to procure the loan for the state?
Let me tell you a story; when Umaru Dikko was alive, he lived in my neighbourhood here in Kaduna. One day, I was doing an exercise; so, I usually branch by his house to sit down, have tea, and discuss. Umaru Dikko told me that in 1979 when they took over office, (Alhaji Shehu) Shagari mandated him (Dikko) to take stock of what was handed over to them, including assets and liabilities of the government. When he checked, he did a diligent job by finding out that what the outgoing government said was different from what was on the ground, So, he reported to President Shagari and told Shagari that ‘we’re having trouble at hand; the country is indebted, and all the monies which they said they left behind were not there.’
So, Shagari asked him what needed to be done; he said the best thing was to tell the world and the people that the country had been made bankrupt by the military. Then Shagari quickly scolded him and said, ‘How could Olusegun Obasanjo hand over power to us and he had not handed power to Obafemi Awolowo? He handed power to us and he’s a Yoruba man. So, do you want us now to go public and disgrace him and humiliate him or what are you saying?’
Dikko replied to him and said, ‘Okay, if we protect Obasanjo and cover what we have seen, the roof will fall on our head.’ That was what Umaru Dikko told Shagari. However, Shagari said they should try and manage the situation but he would not accept anything that would humiliate Obasanjo because he had graciously handed power to them. Then Umaru Dikko just kept his mouth shut.
What happened thereafter?
Fifteen months after they took over, the country started suffering and the finances of the government started getting into trouble which led Shagari to introduce what they called an “Uncertain Major” and the economic problem became part of the reason that the government crashed.
Now, in the case of Kaduna State, even if you’re involved in the securing of the loan, the point of the matter is that you owe it a duty to tell the whole world the truth. I’ll not personally commend the governor for personal reasons, but I am just telling you in general that the public has the right to know the finances of their state even if the sitting governor is involved in it.
So, knowing where we are will help us to be able to understand the situation. I am happy this disclosure has been made because if it had not been made, Kaduna State people and the people who watched the event in the state would have continued to believe that I was the enemy of the people of Kaduna State by refusing to approve that loan. The revelation now has vindicated me in history and made many people realise that what I did was nothing but an act of patriotism.
If you meet with Governor Uba Sani, what will you be telling him privately about this issue?
Well, some people are already economic experts and there are many people in Kaduna State. So, I don’t have to advise anybody.
From the hindsight of your previous experience, having been part of the loan issue in the first instance, what’ll you say?
Let me tell you the facts of this matter; I believe that the $350m loan of Kaduna State was misused. Look at the litany of uncompleted projects in Kaduna State. You can see the Ranchers Stadium, and the bridges that lead to Raba Road Railway to Rigasa, and to Zaria; you’ll see abandoned bridges and abandoned roads. How could you have said that you borrowed money to construct infrastructure and then ended up leaving behind uncompleted projects? Many markets were demolished and some projects were left uncompleted up to date.
The reasonable thinking of the Government of Kaduna State is not enough to reveal that the state is burdened with debt caused by Nasiru El-Rufai’s loan; it is not enough to make the revelation that the state cannot pay salary because of what El-Rufai did. There must be the courage to set up a panel of inquiry headed by an experienced accountant or auditor that’ll invite elements of the past administration and contractors who were given contracts to execute these projects to recover money that was primarily looted by either contractors or elements of the past administration.
The state must move away from revelation to recovery. Kaduna State people need their money back, and I will use this opportunity to say this here; all those NGOs and media houses that have been coming to Kaduna State to give awards to the former governor; awards to ease business in Kaduna State, awards on transparency on open governance, Man of the Year award, should come and help us pay the $350m loan. All those coming to get money in the name of the Ibrahim Kashim Fellowship Award should return our money. We’re in a serious financial mess in Kaduna State; we need support to get out of the financial trouble. The governor must have the courage to investigate officials of the El-Rufai administration and contractors under the former governor and ensure that these monies are returned. If I were the governor of Kaduna State, that’s what I would have done
Do you think Governor Sani has the political will to take action knowing how he emerged as a senator, and now as a governor?
When you’re fighting a lion, you don’t do it halfway. If you fire a shot at a lion and you injure him or miss him, you should know that you’ve to go on a second shot, or else you will be consumed. As far as I am concerned, I never doubted that El-Rufai and the current governor would end up this way because El-Rufai doesn’t know who Uba Sani is. He (El-Rufai) doesn’t know him at all, and I know very well that nobody has known Uba Sani more than I do the whole of Kaduna State and nobody has known me more than Uba Sani in the entire state. So, I never doubted that this day would come and it has come.
What I will tell you in clear terms is that the former governor had fought everybody, vilified everyone, and overstretched his luck as a leader. Power is transient. He has never thought of what life could have been under power, never thought of what Kaduna State could have been under power. Let us just go to our neighbouring state, Kano. What was the relationship between (Rabiu) Kwankwaso and (Abdullahi) Ganduje? Kwankwaso has done a lot of infrastructure in Kano State, but when the political war started, Kwankwaso was almost denied entering Kano for two-half years.
So, this should be a great lesson for those who are holding on to political power. El-Rufai thought he had an enemy, and that Shehu Sani was the beginning and the end of our problem in Kaduna State. Now, he can see that the people he appointed commissioners, special advisers, and heads of parastatals cannot come out to defend him. They’ve switched off their loyalty. That’s how life is.
Some saw the governor’s revelation as a defeatist statement. Some took on the governor and tagged him as an ‘absentee’ governor, and the son of the former governor stated that too. Do you think they may be right sir?
Well, that is for them to be able to prove their allegation and also fight their fight. They came from the same political party. All I know is that the eight years under El-Rufai was a disaster. In Kaduna, he demolished the houses of many people, took our commonwealth, and gave it to the people who were not from Kaduna State. Public houses were sold to people whom we never knew, and public lands were confiscated and shared. Go and see what happened in Hassan Katsina House, a building that was constructed during the time of Saudauna.
Most of the buildings there, including Government College, Kaduna; a school established more than 100 years ago, Staff Quarters, Federal Government land, and Federal Cooperative College, Kaduna, were carved out and shared with people whom we never knew. The industries that were left behind since the time of Malam Balarabe Musa were sold and today, we cannot say this is where the money is. Do we need a $350m loan? That’s the question we need to ask ourselves. The government of Nasiru El-Rufai got Paris Refund, Excess Crude Account, and Ecological Funds; all from the Federal Government, and he never for once came out to explain to the people of Kaduna State that this is the money he got and how the money was spent.
The Chief Press Secretary to the current governor says El-Rufai’s son is a drug addict. How will you react to this allegation?
You see, the All Progressives Congress is a party that when it is fighting, it fights as if it is fighting one of its worst enemies. When I was a senator, there was nothing that they did not do against me; one was that they even tried to frame me in a murder case. Secondly, they sponsored protests against me, raising questions about my academic qualifications. Thirdly, they tried to frame me in all sorts of things. Thugs were paid to attack me. In July 2017, while we were holding a press conference at the Nigerian Union of Journalists secretariat in Kaduna, thugs were sent after me and others. They (thugs) came and left the place after brutalizing some people, leaving journalists in a pool of blood.
A price tag was on my head because I have a lot of hair. So, that’s what the APC in Kaduna State has been used to. I was suspended more than 50 times. What we are seeing is a bitter war between the past administration and the present administration, and I do not think there will be any reconciliation from now to 2027. The battle line has been drawn and this war will continue and anybody trying to make peace is just wasting his time.
