Buhari predicts Tinubu/Shettima’s victory
…Ticket a repeat of 1993 winning formula—Adamu
…CAN disowns bishops at Shettima’s unveiling
By Uthman Salami and Joel Oladele, Abuja
The President, Muhammadu Buhari has predicted the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s standard bearers, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima ahead of the 2023 general elections.
This follows the declaration by the National Chairman of the party who claimed that the Tinubu/Shettima’s ticket is a repeat of the winning formula of 1993 general elections.
The President made this prediction during a visit of Shettima to the State House shortly after he was unveiled as the Party’s Vice Presidential candidate in Abuja yesterday.
In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, which was made available to the Nigerian NewsDirect yesterday, “President Muhammadu Buhari struck a chord of humour on Wednesday at the State House while responding to a flowery speech by Senator Kashim Shettima, the running mate and Vice Presidential Candidate of APC.
The President was credited to have said, “I will respond to your speech when I am handing over to you and your boss. God willing, you are going to win.”
President Buhari, who received the VP Candidate shortly after he was unveiled by the leadership of the Party and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said he is very happy with the choice of the former Governor of Borno State as running mate.
“I wish you the best. Your consistency in the party is very respectful. You served your two terms as Governor and finished well. You have kept touch with your base. At every important occasion or event, you are maintaining support for the one who succeeded you. This is commendable,” he said.
The President expressed strong optimism that the APC ticket will emerge victorious in 2023.
In his remarks, the Vice Presidential Candidate thanked the President for his “empathy, support and positive role,” leading to his emergence as Running Mate to the APC Presidential Candidate.
He praised the President for having ‘a special place in your heart for Borno and Northeast,’ adding, “I can cite 20-30 instances of support you have rendered, for which you will be remembered.”
He identified the establishment of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), and the Independent Power Plant for Maiduguri by the NNPC, ‘after many years of darkness,’ saying that, “Words cannot describe our appreciation of your support. We will remain eternally grateful.”
The former Governor of Borno State requested the President to appreciate his successor, Babagana Zulum who was in his company, along with the Minister of State, Agriculture, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, for spurning ‘recurring mention’ of him and pressure from his Governor colleagues to bid for the Vice Presidential ticket.
He assured the President to remain ‘loyal and devoted,’ promising that his Vice-Presidency will not be for the ‘troika of Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri,’ but for all Nigerians irrespective of ethnicity, religion or geographical place of origin.
Ticket is repeat of 1993 winning formula —Adamu
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Abdullahi Adamu has described the choice of the former Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima as the running mate of its Presidential Candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2023 Presidential election as a repeat of the winning formula of 1993 general elections.
Speaking at the occasion of the unveiling of the party’s Vice Presidential Candidate on Wednesday at Musa Yar’adua Event Center in Abuja, Abdullahi said Tinubu/Shettima’s ticket is in the best interest of the country and he’s confident that it will deliver the desired victory to APC at the polls in 2023.
According to him, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has chosen to walk along the path of the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola, who chose a Muslim Kanuri man, Alhaji BabaGana Kingibe from the North-East geo-political zone, as his running mate in the 1993 Presidential election.
“It is now time for the APC to step out to the public space with one of its best. Since the Presidential Candidate of our party, Jagaban Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, announced the choice of his running mate on July 11, the nation has yet to know who he is. We welcome this opportunity to unveil him.
“As the National Chairman of our party, APC, it is both my honour and duty to unveil this distinguished son of our dear country and formally present him to this august body and through it, the Nigerian public.
“The APC Vice-Presidential Candidate in the 2023 Presidential election is Distinguished Senator Kashim Shettima. Please join me in welcoming him. We offer him our very hearty congratulations.
“Those of you who are students of our recent political history will note that in choosing Shettima as his running mate, Jagaban chose also to walk along the path that other great son of this country, Aare Onakakanfo, the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola, did.
“He selected a Kanuri, Alhaji Baba Gana Kingibe from the North-East geo-political zone, as his running mate in the 1993 Presidential election.
“We are beginning to suspect there must be some synergy between the Yoruba and the Kanuri. Maybe there is a mutual attraction between them that the rest of us do not know. Never mind, we will put the searchlight on them.
“The 1993 Presidential ticket and the current one bridged one of our fault lines in the management of our diversities.
“Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for that ticket because they trusted Abiola, a man who opened his arms to every tribe and religion in the country, to run an inclusive government in which no man or woman would be denied his or rights as a Nigerian citizen by the profession of his faith.
“Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a man who has also thrown his arms around every tribe in the country. He has offered his shoulders for those in pain to lean on; he has used his wealth to bring succor to the needy. He can be trusted to run an inclusive government in which character, competence and vision matter to his administration.
“Our party has produced a candidate who is accepted by all zones in our country. He enjoys the trust of every strata in our national socio-economic structure. We are confident that Nigerians will entrust him with the leadership of our country in 2023. We offer our gratitude to Nigerians for the continued trust they repose on the APC.”
The APC Chairman also said the party arrived at the choice of Shettima after a wide consultation with stakeholders and it is an indisputable fact that going by the antecedents of Shettima, Nigeria needs such a man to pilot the affairs of the country together with a visionary leader like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“In our political tradition, the choice of a running mate is the exclusive right of the Presidential Candidate. He exercises that right with due consultations with the stakeholders in the party. Jagaban, being an astute politician, could not have made the choice of a running mate without widely consulting the stakeholders in our party, including President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Having made his choice, the party wholly and unconditionally accepts his choice. The party has a duty to work for their victory at the polls next year.
“At this time in our national development, and given the myriad of our national challenges, we should look for men and women of character, competence and demonstrable evidence of their performance in public or private offices. We believe this informed Jagaban’s decision to select Senator Shettima because he fits the bill.
“Senator Shettima brings to the joint ticket impressive antecedents as a political leader and administrator. Senator Tinubu could not have made a better choice of a running mate. He chose a man he believes can partner with him to undertake the urgent task of our economic recovery as well as social and political development in peace and security.
“Senator Shettima was a two-term Governor of Borno State before being elected into the Senate of the Federal Republic. As Governor, he did what one might rightly describe as titanic things. He demonstrated his capacity as a focused leader when his state was virtually under siege by Boko Haram.
“When the bombs were exploding and the bullets were flying, he bravely continued to provide for his people, building new primary and post-primary schools, health facilities and housing projects. He never abandoned his people.
“He continued to serve them under virtually impossible conditions. Senator Kashim Shettima is not a stranger to the security challenges confronting our dear country going by his personal and first hand experiences with Boko Haram while they were at the peak of their operations in Borno State. He has earned his right to a higher political office. He must now move up the ladder of our national service as the next vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He added that APC is not unaware of the tasks ahead but the party is united and ready for victory. He urged the aggrieved party members to place the party and national interest above their personal interest by working together as one big family.
“The unveiling of the Vice-Presidential candidate today sends out a strong signal to the country that our great party is ready and united around the common cause of coasting home with victory at every level in 2023. But we must not be unmindful of the hurdles ahead.
“It is time to purge ourselves of the bitterness arising from our individual losses in the party primaries. It is time to submit ourselves to the Will of God and the party and do nothing to sabotage its well-laid plans for victory. The other political parties want what we want, and that is, to win and form the next government.
“If by any acts of omission or commission we give in to bitterness and pettiness or fail to see the larger picture or take any of the political parties for granted, we would constitute an obstacle to the victory of our party. As the faithful would like to say, that will not be our portion. Our winning strategy must be anchored on a unity of purpose. I urge us to begin our march now towards the sunrise.”
Also in his acceptance speech on being chosen as the running mate of Tinubu, Senator Kashim Shettima said the success recorded by All Progressives Congress (APC) were not magic shows but rewards for its foresighted, and pragmatic decisions, to sacrifice personal interests and sectional sentiments, for the overriding prospects of the party.
He described President Muhammadu Buhari as a democratic leader and lauded him for resisting the temptation to impose a successor even when he was under pressure to do so before the party’s convention in June.
“We are again on the cusp of history, and left with no option, other than collaborating assiduously again, to pursue the collective interest of APC’s stakeholders, across ethnic, religious, and regional stations.
“Having led us through two successful elections, and resisted the bait to impose a successor, President Muhammadu Buhari remains the man of the season; a leader who must be remembered, for passing the torch to the choice of the party’s majority, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“My emergence as the running mate of the inimitable Jagaban Borgu, is based on the party’s very forthright assessment of the threats ahead; and I’m most honoured by the consensus of the distinguished stakeholders of our party, to trust me, with representing the nation’s interests, under the leadership of the very sage, the youths all over our country, fondly refer to as ‘City Boy,’ in honour of his cosmopolitan profile.”
He went further by appreciating Christians who are in support of the Muslim/Muslim for seeing beyond religion sentiment and decided to give their support to what he described as the best choice for the country.
He pointed to the fact that the presence of Bishops at the occasion is a signal that it is a joint ticket that is widely accepted across board.
“This ticket isn’t an imposition; it’s an outcome of democracy at its practical best, and based on the aggregation of the ideas and insights of our great party’s stakeholders. If this were an unpopular option, as the cast of partisan provocateurs has attempted to paint, there wouldn’t have been the tonnes of goodwill messages, especially from distinguished Christians, from all over the country. This ticket is a Nigerian project, not a sectional agenda, that the frightened camps have been struggling to sensationalise.
“I’m sincerely proud of the rational citizens, who view this, as nothing but a pragmatic permutation, to defeat our opponents at the polls, and based on acknowledgment and implementation of the candid perspectives of our Christian brothers and sisters in the APC, who, like us, are bound by the passion for us to retain power, in order to deepen the delivery of unifying and transformative governance to Nigerians.”
He therefore promised Nigerians to be patient as they roll out their plans for a greater Nigeria, adding that the interest of the youth is going to be a priority in their manifesto.
“I want to assure our teeming supporters that, in the coming days, we will be rolling out our plans for a greater Nigeria, and pointing towards the bright future that we envisage; and away from the destination of those with nothing, but mudslinging to market, as the reason they deserve to be elected.
“Such hollow strategies shouldn’t be the ideals of a nation, yearning for an experienced and documented visionary, like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the wheel.
“We will work with commitment for all Nigerians, especially the youths, who represent the overwhelming majority of our population today. They represent our present and future. We give a firm assurance, that no discrimination of any form will arise, from this patriotic alliance for the deepening of Nigeria’s democracy.”
