Facts are emerging on how Senator Uba Sani used Islamic clerics in Kaduna to outsmart Governor Nasir Ahmad el-rufai to secure the ticket of the All Progressive Congres APC for the 2023 gubernatorial elections in the state.
Senator Uba Sani representing Kaduna Central, according insiders in his camp, was said to have approached some Islamic Scholars in the state, requested for a meeting to discuss important issues pertaining to the the security of the state.
At the meeting, Sani convinced the Islamic scholars that the choice of Hadiza Balarabe, the incumbent Deputy Governor who Governor el-rufai had promised the ticket and position for 2023, will throw the state into another cycle of political turmoil.
Sani was said to have raised other issues he claimed to have been privy to, in the camp of the El-rufai Government House APC, which he was said to have claimed would not be in the interest of Islam and the state, should a woman succeed El-rufai come 2023.
According to our source; “some of the clerics were not comfortable with some of the issues raised by Uba. Some even doubt if he was sincere or doing it for his personal and selfish gain. But after he gave them what he called transport fare, some of them became confused because of the amount of the money. They were not expecting such huge sum as transportation because of such meeting”.
Continuing, our source said majority of the Islamic scholars at the meeting agreed that they should have a meeting with the Governor and explained to him their fears and consequences of fielding a woman as a successor and Governor of a State like Kaduna.
Governor El-rufai was said to have been called by one of them who is said to have his ears. Our source said “surprisingly El-rufai honoured the meeting with the clerics. Unlike in the past when he sees religious leaders as beggars who only want to meet him because of what they will get from him”.
Governor El-Rufai was said to have swallowed hook, line and sinker the concerns of the cleric. “Unknown to him, Uba orchestrated the whole thing to get the ticket knowing El-Rufai would have no option, but back him (Uba) as his successor.
Another source in the Deputy Governor’s office when contacted said that a day after the said meeting with the clerics, Governor El-Rufai drove to Hadiza’s house in a private vehicle and told her of his decision not to back her anymore as his successor.
“Mummy was livid with anger and saw the decision as a stab in the back” the source said. He added that for days, the Deputy Governor refused to go to office, not to have anything to do with the Governor.
“Infact, because of that incident, she refused to pay the Governor the usual Sallah homage and days after, refused any official engagement” he added.
Following this and as a face saving act, El-Rufai was said to have convened a meeting of his associates where he unveiled Senator Uba Sani as his favored successor, Muhammed Sani Abdulahi aka Dattijo as Sani’s successor in the upper chamber of the National Assembly and his son Bello as the House of Representatives candidate.
El-Rufai was said to have taken this step not because he liked Uba Sani to succeed him, but because he knew Dattijo is no match for Uba if they were to go to the party primaries to slog it out. “So, to save himself from embarrassment, he swiftly took that step to make it look as if he is in support of Uba, but he is not” our source said.
“Infact, as we are speaking, many around Malam are not comfortable with Uba. They see him as a threat who will give Malam the Kwankwaso-Ganduje treatment if at all he become a Governor” the source said.
Within El-rufai’s camp, there are those who believed that the governor may end up negotiating his soft landing with the opposition candidate, back them to come to power to cover up his tracks, as against supporting Uba Sani who may later expose him, especially as he has dossiers of all his doings.
Deputy Governor Hadiza Balarabe at a meeting convened by El-rufai was said to have declined the offer of running as Uba Sani’s running mate. A decision those in El-rufai’s camp said the Governor saw as a slight on his person and is not taking likely.