2023: Tinubu/Shettima, a perfect combination
Joel Oladele-Abuja
Following the announcement of Senator Kashim Shettima, the former governor of Borno State as the running mate to the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, reactions have been trailing the combination of the duo, considering the fact that they are both Muslims
One of the stakeholders who spoke with Nigerian NewsDirect, Hon. Tola Agbaje, Director, Contact, Mobilization & Strategy
Professionals for Asiwaju described Shettima as the best man for the job, going by his track records.
His words:
“That’s the best for us, the combination is superb, it’s excellent and by the special grace of God it’s going to take us to victory. When Shettima was governor of Borno State, when the Christian community said they are not really represented in his government, he gave them two permanent secretaries, the records are there. He’s a very liberal person.
“We must be honest with ourselves, and look at where we are coming from, Tinubu is from Muslim majority. Let me use my own as an example, I’m from South West, my Dad was a Muslim, my mum is still a Christian, a choir member in Anglican church, so we don’t take religion as a yard stick. Religion is a personal thing between you and your God. So religion is different from governance, let’s separate the two.
“What Nigerians are after now is good governance, the person that can change their lives and make their lives meaningful. We need this combination, look at Tinubu as well, his wife is a Christian. One of the reasons Shettima is preferred is because of the block votes in the North West, and North East and no christian from those two regions are strong enough to deliver.
A lot of brainstorming has been ongoing before they arrived at the choice of Shettima, so to me, it’s a perfect combination.”
Responding to whether Muslim community would have been comfortable with Christian/Christian ticket the way some christians don’t see anything bad in Muslim/Muslim ticket, Agbaje said
“I won’t lie to you, our brothers from the Nothern region might not have taken it in good spirit but at the same time, some levels of education and enlightenment will be required to let people understand that it’s about governance and not religion, which I believe we’ll get there one day.
“I believe this combination will give Nigeria the best, they are suitable for this coming administration and Nigeria will enjoy them. They are both technocrats in politics, Shettima was a bank manager before he ventured into politics and Tinubu as well, an accountant, from the public and private sector. Perfect combination!”
Also speaking, Prince Mustapha Audu, Leader Progressive Youth movement said
competence is what matters and not religion or ethnicity as most of those playing such cards are after their personal interest and not in the interest of the nation.
“As far as I’m concerned, competence is what we are looking for, not religion. Everyday we hear cases of Bishops, Reverend Father and other christians, if having a Christian as a VP relay matters, then such cases should not be happening under the current Vice President.
“Most of the people playing the card of religion do so for their selfish interest. For instance, CAN might be fighting to have someone in government so that they can be getting contracts, same goes with NASFAT and any other religious body, most of them are not doing it in the interest of the nation but for their own personal interest.
“There is no village you go to right now and you ask them what they want in their vice president and they will tell you they want the vice president to be a Christian or a Muslim, that’s the last thing they would ever mention. Infact, I guarantee you they would not even mention it. So, religion is not our problem, insecurity, competence, capacity, empathy, feeling the pains of the people. We need leaders with empathy, we don’t need heartless leaders that don’t care. For me, it is neither about religion nor ethnicity.
“The PDP guys are also part of the people making noise about religion because they want to paint APC bad to people. Another set of people doing that are some interested APC members that feel, they are Christian Northerners , so if they shake the tree a little, maybe they can get the VP slot or another slot but in reality, the layman does not care, he just want to eat and have a good life, decency, self respect and dignity, wants his life to mean something unlike the way it doesn’t mean anything right now. And the truth is that these are the elements we need to get rid of and how do we get rid of these, competence.
“The only thing that can only give us real success is competence, Kashim Shettima is an extremely competent man. Go to Borno and see the level of development there. You won’t believe a place ravaged by Boko Haram can be one of the best states in Nigeria in terms of development. So if with all the bombing and attacks here and there, these guys can still be developing the state like there is no tomorrow, then let’s give it to them.
“So to me, those two front runners, Zulum and Shettima were always my top priority but Zulum believes that he has a job to fulfill in Borno, so kudos to him. So I’m proud of the combination of Asiwaju and Shettima and I’m very happy with my party and I’m going to work very hard to deliver these two. They are a better combination than candidates of other parties.” Mustapha said
