20 October 2018•Update: 20 October 2018
By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS, Nigeria
A Nigerian senator has resigned as member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), citing its failure to adhere to “democratic ideals.”
Shehu Sani, a prominent civil rights activist who played a prominent role in the country’s anti-military rule struggle, announced his resignation in a letter dated Oct. 19 but leaked to the media on Saturday.
“I present to you my highest compliments and wish by this communication to formally offer to you my resignation from the APC,” the lawmaker said in a letter addressed to the local head of the party.
“l had joined the APC and remained with it against all odds in the belief that it will constitute a veritable platform for the realization of those democratic ideals which I hold very dear. That honor and integrity will be the ultimate ethos of the party and, most importantly, that internal party democracy will always be the norm. However, only posterity can affirm the extent to which the APC has committed to and reflected these values,” he wrote.
Sani currently represents northwest Kaduna in Nigeria’s 109-member senate where the ruling APC has recently lost some prominent members, including president Bukola Saraki. The party still enjoys a majority.
His defection came a day after the party officially denied him a return ticket to the .
