President Muhammadu Buhari has denied ordering Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State to punish the senator representing Kaduna Central senatorial district, Sen. Shehu Sani.
The president’s rebuttal was conveyed in a four-paragraph Sunday statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.
According to an alleged letter dated October 2 and addressed to the president, El-Rufai accused Sani of ridiculing Buhari.
The letter purportedly read in part, “When your excellency traveled to London in April 2018 for medical consultation, Shehu Sani ridiculed it on Facebook as ‘Voyage to London, Season 3.
“In May 2018, he lamented what he said was Buhari’ s three years of failure to protect human lives.
“In the same month, he wrote that ‘Baba should protect his testicle from any man who always bends down to greet him.
“Your excellency will recall that earlier this year, you directed me to initiate processes to recall Shehu Sani from the senate to punish his repeated acts of contempt and disloyalty.
“Following your directive, our team in Kaduna studied what was being done in Kogi state regarding the recall of Dino Melaye and drew up a budget. Upon examination of the costs and loopholes in the recall process as brutally exposed in Dino Melaye’s case, and in recognition of the immense of preparations for the next elections, it was decided that it may be more prudent to oust him at the ballot.”
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But in the Sunday statement, the presidency denied ordering the governor to punish the senator.
The statement read, “The presidency wishes to distance President Muhammadu Buhari from a letter currently in circulation, which alleges that the President had authorized a Governor or anyone else for that matter to “deal with traitors and disloyal members of APC, especially Senator Shehu Sani.”
“We wish to confirm that the President is not aware of any such letter, let alone authorising anyone to deal with any party member.
“Given President Buhari’s record, it is inconceivable that he would usurp the role of the party leaders and instruct anyone to punish a party member.
“In the light of above, we would like to appeal to the general public, especially members of the press, to ignore false or unauthorised information intended to attribute to the President any action which is not in line with his character.”