By Sadeeq Shehu
I listened to Senator Shehu Sani’s interview on Channels Television. Ordinarily, I do not usually pay much attention to his interventions. Perhaps that is because my perspective on Shehu Sani is somewhat different from that of many Nigerians who know him principally through the media – as “Comrade” Shehu Sani, the human-rights and pro-democracy activist who suffered imprisonment during the military era.
On the contrary I live in Kaduna and I know the man behind the mask. Lived same neighborhood, same street, less than 50 meters separated us, share common friends and acquaintances though we are not friends. I know him alright.
Those of us who have lived in Kaduna for decades and have observed the man, his politics and public activities at much closer quarters know that there are other, considerably less flattering assessments of the “Comrade” persona. That is my personal assessment, and others are perfectly entitled to disagree with it.
But this particular interview caught my attention because Senator Sani made an assertion that does not require anybody’s personal assessment of either him or Nasir El-Rufai to resolve.
It requires only evidence.
According to reports of his Channels Television interview, Senator Sani said:
“There was never a time when the government led by Nasir El-Rufai provided support for the Police, the Army or the Civil Defence…”
That is an extraordinary statement because, unlike political opinions about whether El-Rufai governed Kaduna well or badly, this is a factual proposition capable of straightforward verification.
And it took me only a few minutes of searching.
The irony is that one of the sources contradicting Senator Sani is Channels Television itself – the same station on which he reportedly made the assertion.
On 26 November 2015, same CHANNELS TV reported:
“Kaduna Govt. Donates Patrol Vehicles To Police, Others.”
The report records that the Kaduna State Government donated 107 Hilux patrol vehicles and 230 bulletproof vests to the Police and other security agencies.
It gets more specific.
Of the 107 vehicles, 55 went to the Police and 10 to the Nigerian Army, with the remainder distributed among other security agencies.
The vehicles were commissioned by the then Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, who reportedly commended the Kaduna State Government for the intervention.
It did not end there.
In April 2016, another 51 patrol motorcycles were distributed: 35 to the Police, two to the Army, two to the Air Force, five to the NSCDC, two to the FRSC and five to Operation Yaki.
In January 2017, @Channels Television again reported El-Rufai telling a visiting Senate committee that Kaduna State had committed approximately ₦4 billion in support of security agencies, notwithstanding that those agencies are federal institutions.
Channels subsequently reported a 2017 security-expenditure breakdown which included ₦2.6 billion to support the network of federal security agencies, alongside expenditure on CCTV, communications/interception equipment, drones and a forensic laboratory.
So how does one reconcile this documentary record with the categorical assertion that “there was never a time” the El-Rufai Government supported the Police, Army or Civil Defence?
One may argue that the assistance was insufficient.
One may argue that despite these expenditures Kaduna remained insecure.
One may question effectiveness, procurement, deployment or value for money.
All are perfectly legitimate subjects for debate.
But “the assistance was inadequate” is fundamentally different from “there was never a time assistance was provided.”
The first is an assessment.
The second is a factual claim.
And the contemporaneous documentary record contradicts it.
What I find equally remarkable is that this statement was apparently made on the very television station @Channels Television whose archives contain evidence to the contrary.
Surely somebody in the studio could have asked:
“Senator, our own reporting shows that in November 2015 the Kaduna Government donated 107 patrol vehicles and 230 bulletproof vests to security agencies. How do you reconcile that with what you have just said?”
That is not taking El-Rufai’s side.
That is professional journalism. @Channels Television you may not like El-Rufai but for your own sake you should aspire to be like CNN, AL JAXEERA nah.
Politicians will naturally bring their histories, rivalries and grievances into political discussion. Shehu Sani and Nasir El-Rufai have enough political history between them to fill a small library.
But journalism exists partly to prevent political memory from replacing the historical record.
And perhaps this is where the comparison becomes interesting.
Whatever anybody thinks of Nasir El-Rufai – and nothing in this post suggests that his eight years as Governor should be exempt from criticism – much of his governmental record is capable of objective interrogation.
There was his tenure at FCT
In Kaduna There are roads to inspect.
Schools to inspect.
Hospitals and primary healthcare centres to inspect.
Urban renewal projects to inspect.
Budgets and accounts to interrogate.
Security vehicles and equipment whose procurement and distribution can be traced.
Policies whose consequences can be debated.
Successes can be measured and failures identified.
In other words, much of El-Rufai’s record does not require anybody to believe El-Rufai. It can be physically inspected or checked against documentary evidence.
Senator Shehu Sani understandably attaches considerable importance to his credentials as a pro-democracy and “human-rights activist”…(a pro democracy activist who dodged primary election? Lol Primary election in my opinion is the bedrock of democracy where the local population have their say…it is that bedrock that our “pro democracy activist” subverted).
There is historical evidence supporting his imprisonment under military rule but even the reason for his imprisonment is disputed. He tells anyone who cares to listen he shared prison cell with President Obasanjo (and) with late Shehu Yaradua….that’s his major claim to fame. There is no need to erase that history merely because one disagrees with him today.
But biography is not immunity from fact-checking.
A former political prisoner can make an inaccurate statement.
A “human-rights activist” can contradict the documentary record.
A “pro democracy activist” could connive with authorities to scuttle primary election and get the ticket through the back door.
Indeed, someone whose political reputation was partly built fighting abuses of state power should appreciate more than most the importance of evidence.
There is another episode in Senator Sani’s own public record which illustrates precisely why allegations must be handled carefully.
He Shehu Sani was prosecuted in the Federal High Court following allegations by Alhaji Sani Dauda of ASD Motors concerning money allegedly obtained through representations involving senior judicial and EFCC officials. Evidence was presented by the prosecution. Senator Sani denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
I mention this not to pronounce @Shehu Sani guilty. That is the business of a competent court. I mention it to make a much more important point:
Every man’s public record deserves the same evidentiary discipline. Today’s comrade human rights activist could easily be alleged to be at one time duping Europeans with pictures of poor northerners to collect monies under false pretenses for humanitarian and NGO services.
A “human rights activist” if we ask around acquaintances and his neighbors, we may find he doesn’t even pay his gateman, leaves him to be fed by neighbors and is miserly to the young men who pitifully follow him around. A human rights activist could have two persona: one persona for out of Kaduna media and virtual supporters and one persona for those who know him up close and personal.
If allegations against Shehu Sani must remain allegations unless established by evidence and due process, allegations against Nasir El-Rufai deserve precisely the same treatment.
So let us compare El Rufai and Shehu Sani records if we must.
But let us compare them using documents, dates, budgets, court records, physical projects and independently verifiable facts.
Not folklore.
Not political grudges.
Not convenient amnesia.
And certainly not categorical declarations that can apparently be disproved by the archives of the very television station on which they are being made.
Shehu Sani may legitimately criticise El-Rufai understandably for the famous “political haircut” that El-Rufai gave him. He may catalogue what he considers the failures of his administration. He may present evidence of people he believes were wronged.
He may even argue that whatever material support the Kaduna Government provided to security agencies was inadequate or ineffective. (Even FG has not yet provided adequately for our military and other security agencies)
But he cannot reasonably make 107 Hilux vehicles, 230 bulletproof vests, 51 motorcycles and billions of naira of documented security expenditure disappear merely by saying they never existed.
Perhaps there is a broader lesson here.
Never allow political rivalry to become so consuming that your opponent ceases to be merely your adversary and becomes the organising principle of your own public commentary.
A formidable public figure should eventually become larger than his adversary.
Otherwise the opponent acquires a strange kind of victory: he determines when you speak, what you speak about and, eventually, what you are remembered for.
And there is an even simpler lesson for the rest of us: Rhetoric asks us to remember what a politician said. A record allows us to check whether what he said is true.
On this particular claim, fortunately, we do not have to choose between Shehu Sani’s word and Nasir El-Rufai’s.
We have the record.
And 107 Hilux vehicles are rather difficult things to make disappear.
But after all is said and done, there’s really no basis, no reason whatsoever to even attempt a comparison between El Rufai and Shehu Sani. Intellect? Education? Enlightenment? No basis. Talking about and bad mouthing El-Rufai is the only thing that makes Shehu Sani relevant and attractive to some media houses.
©️ Sadeeq Shehu 27th September 2026
