Politics
2023: Senator, Uba Sani loses out in political power play in Kaduna
As political permutations hot up by the day ahead of 2023 general election, Kaduna State wasn’t left out of noticeable clash of interests among political juggernauts.
Right now, all isn’t well with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State that brought Malam Nasir El-Rufai into office as governor in 2015. Since then, El-Rufai who has assumed leadership of APC in Kaduna has constructed his own political fiefdom and chooses to work with those he prefer.
Senator Uba Sani representing Kaduna Central Senatorial district in the 9th National Assembly was the former Chief of Staff to El-Rufai in the first term as governor who was used to dislodge Senator Shehu Sani, a Civil Rights activist in 2019 in a manner that was causing APC in Kaduna sleepless nights till date.
Uba was prominent among El-Rufai’s political family, as well as his current Chief of Staff (CoS), Hon. Muhammad Sani Dattijo, the incumbent Speaker of Kaduna State House of Assembly, Hon. Ibrahim Yusuf Zailani who was deputy Speaker in the last dispensation and many others.
What was heightening political intrigues among El-Rufai political family according to findings by CAPITAL POST was ‘who succeeds El-Rufai’ in 2023 general election?
Sources told our correspondent that governor El-Rufai has been keenly watching the supremacy battle, one of which has cost the Speakership of Hon. Aminu Shagali when 25 members of the State Assembly passed a vote of no confidence on him that led to his resignation early last year.
Senator Uba Sani, who is the Chairman of Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Financial Institutions in the red Chamber of the 9th National Assembly was said to have betrayed his political godfather, Malam El-Rufai in many ways, a development that has called for his alienation from the happenings in APC in the State, CAPITAL POST has learnt.
In last week’s Ward Congress, our investigation revealed that Senator Uba Sani was allowed to produce only 10 executives, unlike the previous times when he was allowed to generate most of the executives in his entire Kaduna Central Senatorial district through writing of names instead ward elections. A staunch member of APC who didn’t want his name mentioned told CAPITAL POST in Kaduna on Tuesday, that, “what happened in the Congress was the beginning of Uba Sani’s end”.
With the misfortune betiding Uba’s fate, it wasn’t clear, if he will defect to another, political party, ahead of 2023, though pundits envisaged that his defection means a declaration of deadly war in Kaduna as El-Rufai would spare nothing to fight him.
Currently, there is disquiet in the camp of Senator Uba as what started as a cold war was gradually becoming obvious even as his social media followers have started accusing the State governor and some political elements of attempt to frustrate efforts of the embattled lawmaker, while El-Rufai’s cyber attackers are surreptitiously replying them.
The source also confided in our correspondent that El-Rufai prefer and would work for his Chief of Staff, Mr Muhammad Sani Dattijo to succeed him as governor of Kaduna State in 2023.
Dattijo has over a decade of experience in development policy formulation, public finance and project implementation, Muhammad is the current Chief of Staff to the Governor of Kaduna State (population 10 million). In this position, he leads support to the Governor in designing, coordinating and implementing government policy in all sectors. In addition, he chairs the Infrastructure Council of the State which coordinates the portfolio of all economic and social infrastructure across the 23 Local Governments of Kaduna.
He was from 2015 – 2019 the Commissioner for Budget and Planning in Kaduna State where he led on the States broad economic growth and development portfolio. As the Commissioner, he was responsible for designing the fiscal strategy and coordinating the implementation and monitoring of the state budget.
Before moving to Kaduna, Muhammad was a Policy Adviser in the Executive Office of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in New York and a member of the Secretary General’s core team that designed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He has also served in the past as an Economist and Deputy National Program Manager in Nigeria’s Presidency where he supported the design and coordination of development interventions across 36 States focusing on accelerating the country’s progress on the MDGs. He was subsequently appointed Economic Adviser of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum, a political and policy think tank for the country’s 36 elected Governors.
He holds an MSc in Development Economics and Policy from the University of Manchester and has studied Public Finance at the London School of Economics, Sustainable Development with Columbia University in New York and Advanced Project Management at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. He is a UK Chevening Scholar, member of the University of Oxford Business Alumni Network, Fellow of the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Institute, a fellow of the Aspen Institute Africa Leadership program and most recently attended the prestigious Georgetown Leadership Seminar.
Muhammad has led Kaduna State’s broad economic growth and development portfolio. As the Commissioner (Sub-National Minister) for Budget and Planning, this includes designing the fiscal strategy for the State and coordinating the design, monitoring and implementation of the state’s budget (172 bn naira/ ~$800m in 2016).
The immediate past deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Rivers State, Dr Emana Ambrose Amawhe has resigned her membership of the party with immediate effect.
In a letter dated 28th March, 2025 addressed to the Chairman of Edem Odo Ward in Akpabuyo Local Government Council of Cross River State, she said, her resignation was with immediate effect.
She pointed out in the letter that her resignation should not be taken lightly, while she reaffirmed her commitment to and readiness to serve the government of Cross River and Nigeria in general in any capacities.
She said, “I am writing to formally resign my membership from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with immediate effect.
”I sincerely appreciate the opportunity given to me over time to contribute my quota to the growth of the party and the chance to serve as the Deputy Governorship Candidate in the last general elections.
”It was a privilege to be part of the PDP’s vision and engage with our people in meaningful ways. However, after much reflection in light of the current state of affairs within the party, I believe it is time for me to move on.
“This decision was not made lightly, but I remain committed to serving my community and contributing to the progress of our state and nation in other capacities.”
Ambrose-Amawhe was the running mate to Senator Sandy Onor in the 2023 governorship election in Cross River.
She had also contested for the House of Representatives seat for the Bakassi/Akpabuyo/Calabar South Federal Constituency under the PDP.
The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers State Chapter, Chief Tony Okocha, has defended the emergency rule declared by President Bola Tinubu in the state, citing escalating security threats.
According to Chief Okocha, Rivers State was on the brink of anarchy due to increasing security concerns in various parts of the state.
Okocha made this statement while addressing journalists at the APC headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
Justifying the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the declaration of a state of emergency, Okocha commended the President for his “timely” intervention and criticized those opposing the decision.
“The state of emergency called by Mr. President saved Rivers State from anarchy. When you see non-state actors brandishing guns and making statements that promote lawlessness, then you should know there is a problem.
“I see some people jumping onto television platforms to cast aspersions on Mr. President and condemn what they do not understand. Mr. President knows more than they do.
“The truth of the matter is that Rivers State was headed towards anarchy. We all know Rivers is one of the states that sustain this country. Some of the same people criticizing the President now would have also condemned him if he had done nothing.”
Chief Okocha also questioned the silence of former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) when the Rivers State House of Assembly complex was demolished under Governor Fubara’s administration.
“Thank God, President Goodluck Jonathan has been president, General Obasanjo has been president, and they know that every day on their table, they receive security reports.
“I hear the NBA saying the suspension is an affront to democracy. But when the assembly complex was burned and the next day, eleven pieces of equipment were deployed to demolish it, the NBA was silent. They were alive, yet we didn’t hear anything from them”, he said.
Reacting to criticism over why the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, was not sanctioned despite allegations that he contributed to the unrest, Okocha argued that Wike was not involved in the crisis.
He said, “For those asking why the Governor and members of the State House of Assembly were suspended but not the Minister of the FCT—was he in the frame? The answer is no”
Former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party in the 2023 general election, Adewole Adebayo said, God has told him that the party will produce the next president in 2027 general election.
Speaking over the weekend in Abeokua when he met the members and executive who were led by the State Chairman, Yinka Ola-Williams, said he could confirm that a President of SDP will mount Aso Rock villa in 2027.
“One thing that God is telling me is that there will be an SDP president in the villa in 2027.
“For the first time in a long time, we will have people who care for the people. Let’s remain focused. The problems of Nigeria are our problems, not individuals.
“We are not against Tinubu as a person but we are against hunger, inflation, poverty, insecurity, unemployment. That’s what we are against,” he said.
Buttressing Adebayo’s position on modalities of joining the party, the SDP Chairman in Ogun State, Mr. Yinka Ola-Williams, disowned 30,000 membership cards and registers allegedly being flaunted by one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) aspirants in the 2023 governorship election in the State.
Ola-Williams said the party’s door is widely opened to anybody who wants to join, but such a person or group, no matter how highly placed, must follow the procedure as laid down in the party’s constitution.
He emphatically stated that the party had nothing to do with the membership cards and registers claimed by the aspirant, who said he got them from the party’s National Secretariat.
“We want people to join us, and we want to work together to provide a better government than what we have now that will remove poverty, provide a better healthcare system for people, improve education and all.
“But not that they come to the party, hijack the party and take the structure away. That’s what we will not agree,” Ola-Williams said.
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