Knocks, kudos over Shettima’s nomination as Tinubu’s running mate
… We are ready to protect Christian’s interest— CAN
Shettima’s nomination wisest choice by Tinubu — Zulum
… Decision an insult to fairness, equity, justice — Aisha
… Tinubu, Shettima are moderate Muslims — Ikechukwu
… My decision beyond Community, religious sentiments — Tinubu
By Uthman Salami and Joel Oladele, Abuja
Knocks and commendations have begun trailing the choice of All Progressives Congress (APC) standard bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to pick the former Governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima as running mate against the 2023 presidential elections.
Recall that Tinubu had announced a current Senator of Borno State Shettima, who played a vital role in his emergence, as his Vice Presidential candidate after paying Sallah visit to the President, Muhammadu Buhari at his home in Daura yesterday.
Earlier, a chunk of Nigerians of diverse faith had expressed worry over what seemed to be rumour of Muslim Muslim ticket with many claiming such decision would negate fairness and justice for all fates in the country.
We will escalate Muslim-Muslim ticket — CAN
Reacting to the development the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), said it would escalate Muslim-Muslim ticket noting that it was not moved by the announcement of Senator Kashim Shettima as the running mate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The religious association said the association was determined to stand their ground against every form of intimidation, including the floating of a Muslim-Muslim Presidential ticket by the political party.
The association’s Chairman, Kaduna State chapter, Rev. John Hayab said this in an interview with a national daily (not this paper) yesterday.
“We were ready for this announcement. We have put some media outlets on notice. All we are waiting for is the right signal to give a full blown reaction.
“We’ll escalate this issue because our call for fairness and the balancing of the Presidential ticket for the sake of justice, unity and fairness apparently fell on deaf ears.
“However, CAN is strongly determined to sacrifice everything to protect the interest of the Church in Nigeria. We will not be moved by any form of intimidation,” the CAN leader in the Northern region added.
Decision an insult to fairness, equity, justice — Aisha
Socio-political activist, Aisha Yesufu, on Sunday said a Muslim-Muslim ticket “is an insult to fairness, equity and justice.”
Reacting to the news, Yesufu said on her Twitter handle, “A Muslim-Muslim ticket is an insult to fairness, equity and justice. It is finished. It is impunity of the worst kind. It is disrespectful to the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It shows they have little regard for people and think their structure is more valuable.”
On his part, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo commended the selection of the former Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, as the running mate to the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Keyamo described Shettima as a quintessential banker, economist and intellectually fertile politician.
According to him, “Quintessential banker & economist, suave gentleman & politician, intellectually fertile, economically sound, intergenerationally mobile (he’s young, yet experienced), fiercely loyal, phenomenally complemental to Asiwaju Tinubu.
“HE Sen. Kashim Shettima is the perfect choice as VP.”
Tinubu, Shettima are moderate Muslims — Ikechukwu
Also, the Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Osita Okechukwu, has described the choice of Senator Kashim Shettima as the best, saying both the Presidential candidate and his Vice are moderate Muslims.
He said he had wanted a Muslim-Christian ticket. He added that, “The choice of Distinguished Senator Kissim Shettima as Vice Presidential Candidate; me thinks it is an excellent joint ticket.
“An excellent joint ticket because Distinguished Shettima is transparent, man of action and capable as Asiwaju pointed out.
He did well as Governor of Borno State and did a good pick as a successor in the person of Professor Zulum.
“On the issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket, as a Christian one would had preferred Muslim-Christian ticket, however there was the likely input of Northern Governors who are staunch supporters of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“And as a veteran politician Asiwaju must have weighed all the options among which is competence, capability and reliability and sterling qualities must have guided his choice.
“The good news is that both are moderate Muslims, not ultra Muslims.”
Shettima’s nomination wisest choice by Tinubu — Zulum
Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, described the choice of Senator Kashim Shettima as APC’s Vice Presidential candidate, as the wisest choice made by the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed.
Zulum stated this in a statement he personally signed released via his media office from Maiduguri.
His statement read, “Earlier today, I received with the greatest joy, the announcement of my mentor, His Excellency, Senator Kashim Shettima as the Vice Presidential candidate of our party, the APC and insha’Allah, the next Vice President of the Federal Republic under His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, our incoming President, Bi’iznillah.
“It has been my greatest wish that HE Kashim Shettima gets this elevation that he so much deserves as one of Nigeria’s highly patriotic leaders.
“For me, and I am sure for many leaders and members of the APC, Tinubu’s choice of HE Kashim Shettima is the wisest choice at this point in time.”
“Shettima’s choice is very personal to me and together with our leaders and all stakeholders and members of the APC, we shall campaign vigorously, work day and night, to collectively secure overwhelming victory for the APC in 2023, insha’Allah.”
“Without the slightest doubt, HE Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has chosen a leader who has a very deep understanding of our country and its complexities.
“There is hardly any tribe in any of Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT that Senator Kashim Shettima cannot knowledgeably speak about. He knows the social, cultural, religious, economic and political structure of virtually all the 36 States and the FCT.”
“Shettima is extremely patriotic. He believes so much in the unity of this country and he has proved it on a number of occasions.”
“Shettima’s administration (in which I am honored to have served as rector and as commissioner) truly reflected the Nigerian configuration.
“Above everything else, Tinubu has chosen for Nigeria, an incoming Vice President, insha’Allah, with very deep knowledge not only of the Nigerian economy (challenges and prospects) but also of the world.”
“As far back as 2012, Shettima had on many occasions predicted the likelihood of fall in revenue from oil just as he predicted potential fall in the value of naira to dollar, which was why he imported agricultural products worth over N30 billion which today are worth far more, making Borno one of the richest in agricultural machinery.”
“I have more to say on this unique leader but I will reserve them for campaigns.”
“In the meantime, I want to register our profound gratitude to the leader of our party, His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari, for his political leadership over the years and for supporting Shettima’s choice as our VP candidate.”
“We are grateful to the national executives of the APC and members of the National Working Committee as well as all elders and stakeholders of our party.”
“We are grateful to all Governors of the APC under the sound leadership of my elder brother, His Excellency, Senator Atiku Bagudu.”
“We are grateful to all APC stakeholders in the Northeast for supporting this wise choice.”
“We are grateful to all stakeholders and members of the APC in Borno State for their ceaseless support.”
“We are grateful to the good people of Borno State for their undivided support and prayers.”
“May Allah lead the APC to a third round of groundbreaking victories in 2023, and may that victory serve the best interest of Nigerians in terms of security, massive economic recovery, endless growth and overall development.”
One of the stakeholders who spoke with Nigerian NewsDirect, Hon. Tola Agbaje, Director, Contact, Mobilisation & Strategy Professionals for Asiwaju described Shettima as the best man for the job, going by his track records.
In 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.
“In fact, 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 wants 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.
My decision goes beyond Community, religious sentiments.
While explaining his decision, Tinubu said he prioritised national growth and development above “religious sentiments” in picking Shettima.
He said Shettima’s credentials laid credence to his appointment, noting that “he is eminently qualified not only to deliver that all important electoral victory.”
“I have never been an indecisive man and have no present intention to become one.
“Having now listened to the sage, careful advice of a broad section of the party and of the nation, there are a few points I feel I must make about the exceptional and extraordinary person with whom I will share the APC ticket and the principles of open and good governance that informed this choice.
“I am mindful of the energetic discourse concerning the possible religion of my running mate. Just and noble people have talked to me about this. Some have advised that I should select a Christian to please the Christian community. Other have said I should pick a Muslim to appeal to the Muslim community. Clearly, I cannot do both.
“Both sides of the debate have impressive reasons and passionate arguments supporting their position. Both arguments are right in their own way. But neither is right in the way that Nigeria needs at the moment.
As president, I hope to govern this nation toward uncommon progress. This will require innovation. It will require steps never before taken. It will also require decisions that are politically difficult and rare.
“If I am to be that type of President, I must begin by being that type of candidate. Let me make the bold and innovative decision not to win political points but to move the nation and our party’s campaign closer to the greatness that we were meant to achieve.
“Today, I announce my selection with pride because I have made it not based on religion or to please one community or the other. I made this choice because I believe this is the man who can help me bring the best governance to all Nigerians, period, regardless of their religious affiliation or considerations of ethnicity or region.
“May I say this to all of you, especially to those who will be disappointed in my selection based on religious considerations. I will not and cannot ignore the religious concerns and ethnic sensitivities of our people.
“Taking them into consideration is an important part of good and able governance. But religion, ethnicity and region cannot always and fully determine our path.
“To forge ahead as a nation toward development and prosperity, we must break free of old binds. We must recalibrate our political calculations to where competence and fairness matter more than reductive demographics,” Tinubu said in a statement.
He revealed that his choice of partner and running mate was in a bid to advance and reclaim the fortunes of Nigeria and the hopes of its people.
“Senator Kasim Shettima’s career in politics and beyond shows that he is eminently qualified not only to deliver that all important electoral victory, but, also, step into the shoes of the Vice President. As a man with the talent, maturity, strength of character, and patriotism he has my implicit confidence and faith.
“I am aware that many will continue to focus on a particular detail, the question of his faith.
“However, if we truly understand the challenges upon us as a nation, then we must also see the imperative of placing competence in governance above religious sentiment.
“In 1993, Nigerians embrace Chief MKO Abiola and a fellow Muslim running mate, Baba Gana Kingibe in one of our fairest elections ever held.
”The spirit of 1993 is upon us again in 2023.
“As such, the ticket we present today represents a milestone in our political history. It symbolises our party’s determination to be a leading light among political parties in Africa.”
