Defamation: El-Rufai Slams N2bn Suit against Senator Sani

The crisis in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State has taken a new dimension as Governor Nasir El-Rufai has slammed a N2 billion suit against Senator Shehu Sani for alleged defamation of character.

El-Rufai filed the suit at the Kaduna State High court on Friday, seeking reliefs for injuries allegedly suffered as results of "malicious statements" in the media by Senator Sani, representing Kaduna central senatorial zone.

El-Rufai said Sani made the malicious statements through the mass media to humiliate him and defame his integrity by calling him a "drunk, loose cannon and an embarrassment to President Muhammadu Buhari."

Among reliefs sought by the governor, is a declaration that the derogatory remarks made against him by Sani are totally false and injurious to his person in the eyes of the public.

Speaking to reporters at the court premises after filing the suit, counsel to El-Rufai, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), dismissed insinuations that the governor, by virtue of his position did not have the constitutional right to sue any citizen.

Sani who belongs to a faction of the APC in Kaduna known as "APC Akida" (true APC) has been having a political running battle with the governor since 2015.

Just recently, a group alleged to have been sponsored by the faction of the APC loyal to El-Rufai had threatened to initiate the recall of Sani from the senate for always criticising President Muhammadu Buhari and El-Rufai.