Former senator and civil rights activist Shehu Sani has strongly criticized former Governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State for their recent remarks targeting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, branding their actions as hypocritical and politically opportunistic.
At a press briefing in Kaduna, Sani accused the duo of lacking the moral authority to critique the current government given their own legacies. “These men should bow their heads in shame,” he said. “They are the architects of the banditry, poverty, and hunger they now pretend to condemn.”
Sani accused El-Rufai of creating the conditions that allowed banditry to thrive during his tenure as Kaduna governor, and dismissed his recent claim at a lecture in Amaechi’s honor—that “urban bandits” had taken over the Nigerian government—as insincere and driven by political exclusion.
“There’s nothing wrong with criticizing a government,” Sani said, “but when it is fueled by personal disappointment over missed appointments and not genuine concern for the people, it becomes dangerous.”
He further claimed both El-Rufai and Amaechi, having enjoyed eight years of power under the Buhari administration, failed to address insecurity and underdevelopment in the North. Their criticism now, Sani argued, stems from political frustration.
While acknowledging ongoing challenges in states like Katsina and Zamfara, Sani said security has improved under President Tinubu’s administration, pointing to the once deadly Birnin Gwari road and increased peace in Southern Kaduna as examples of progress.
He urged Tinubu to intensify efforts to meet the North’s socio-economic needs but warned against accepting critiques driven by political bitterness. “Progress can only be sustained when development is evenly spread and when criticism is rooted in patriotism, not bitterness,” he said.
Swifteradio.com
