So in one of the ahadith the prophets pbuh told us at the hand of Allah is over the Jama’ah, meaning the main body of Muslims. Now who are the main body of Muslims? They are the companions. They are the Sahaba. That is why we say ahlu Sunnati wal jama’ah is the same sect. Why do we say this?

Because there is a hadith that says that this Ummah is going to be split into 73 sects. 72 of them will be in hellfire and one of them will be not in hellfire, which is the group of Ahlu Sunnati Wal Jama’ah Sunnah means we follow Sunnah of the prophet pbuh and Jama’ah means we follow the Sunnah upon the understanding of the companions