I Did Not Order El-Rufai To Punish Shehu Sani – President Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Sunday, said there was no truth in a claim that he asked the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, to punish Senator Shehu Sani by initiating his recall from the Senate.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement made available to journalists.

El-Rufai had in a leaked memo warned Buhari that there would be serious consequences if the senator representing Kaduna Central should win a return ticket to the Senate in 2019.

The governor claimed in the memo that at a point, Buhari had directed him to recall Sani because of his many sins.

But Shehu said neither did the President receive the leaked memo nor did he ask el-Rufai to deal with the senator.

He said Buhari would never usurp the role of party leaders by directing that a party member should be punished.

The statement read, “The Presidency wishes to distance President Muhammadu Buhari from a letter currently in circulation, which alleges that the President had authorised a governor or anyone else for that matter to ‘deal with traitors and disloyal members of the 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 the false or unauthorised information intended to attribute to the President any action which is not in line with his character.”