Vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kashim Shettima, has picked holes in the criticisms trailing his emergence as running mate to the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying they are in the 2023 presidential race for the Nigeria Project and not to pursue an Islamic agenda.
He spoke yesterday at his official unveiling as running mate to Tinubu at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.
There had been a flurry of criticisms within Christian circle in the country, against the APC Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), rejecting in its entirety the decision to pick Shettima, a northern Muslim, as running mate to Tinubu, another Muslim from the South.
But speaking at the unveiling at his unveiling as vice presidential candidate of the APC, Shettima said his joint ticket with Tinubu was not an imposition but an outcome of democracy at its practical best.
According to the former Borno State governor, the choice of the party and its standard bearer is based on the aggregation of the ideas and insights of great party’s stakeholders.
He noted that if his emergence as VP candidate was an unpopular one as the cast of “partisan provocateurs” are attempting to paint, there wouldn’t have been the tons of goodwill messages coming even from Christians across the country.
He said, “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.”
Shettima, a serving Senator, stated that pairing him with Tinubu is “reincarnation of the 30-year-old hope that produced the late MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe” which, according to him, “came at a time the country is being pushed to the edge of anarchy by conflict entrepreneurs in gaudy suits and babanriga.
Shettima further recalled what he described as “the decisive blows dealt the bigotry dispensed by a hopeless minority ahead of the APC presidential primaries in June.
He continued, “The futility of their propaganda showed that Nigerians aren’t the unthinking robots some are quick to call them. Nigerians are rational beings, with the capability to tell an invidious agenda apart, from sincere concern for them.
On his part, the APC presidential candidate, Tinubu, restated his unwavering decision to pick Shettima as his running mate for the 2023 presidential poll.
Tinubu said he is not bothered by the criticisms trailing his decision because Shettima remains the very best candidate to go to the polls with him.
He reiterated that Shettima’s career in politics and beyond showed that he is eminently qualified, not only to deliver electoral victory, but to also step into the VP shoes.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, Tinubu stated: “I believe in the project this party embarked on at the moment of its foundation. I believe our diversity is our strength and I believe that we must be victorious in order to achieve the greatness of which this country is capable.
“All my life, my decisions regarding the team around and supporting me has always been guided by the principles of competence, innovation, compassion, integrity, fairness, and adherence to excellence.
“In politics, these principles are sacrosanct. Without them there can be neither victory nor good governance. I seek both. I applied them as governor of Lagos. I will apply them again now.”
Tinubu noted that APC must win the 2022 election so that the party can bring jobs, education, food, medicine, hope and belief in a better life to Nigerians.
He said, “Every election brings with it the promise of renewed hope. This one shall be no different. For our party and for our nation, we hold the chance to move the nation and our collective cause forward as never before. To do this, we must be wise of thought and courageous of action. We must win this election.”
Also speaking at the event, national chairman of the APC, Sen Abdullahi Adamu, said by picking Shettima as running mate, Tinubu has chosen to walk the path of eminent Nigerians like the late MKO Abiola.
He noted that the 1993 presidential ticket and the current one bridged one of Nigeria’s fault lines in the management of her diversities.
He further said Tinubu is a man who has also thrown his arms around every tribe in the country and has offered his shoulders for those in pain to lean on.
God willing, I’ll Hand Over To You In 2023 – PMB
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday expressed strong optimism that the APC presidential ticket will be victorious in 2023, with Tinubu and Shettima emerging as his successor.
Buhari struck a chord of humour at the presidential villa while responding to a flowery speech by Tinubu’s running mate, Senator Shettima.
“I will respond to your speech when I am handing over to you and your boss. God willing, you are going to win,” he said.
President Buhari who received the VP candidate shortly after he was unveiled by the leadership of the party said he was very happy with the choice of the former Governor of Borno State as running mate.
In his remarks, Shettima thanked the president for his “empathy, support and positive role,” which led to his emergence as running mate to the APC presidential candidate.
He mentioned 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 “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 pledged to remain “loyal and devoted” to the president, promising that his vice presidency will not be for the “troika of Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri,” but for all Nigeria, irrespective of ethnicity, religion or geographical place of origin.
CAN Disowns ‘Bishops’ At Unveiling Of Shettima As Tinubu’s Running Mate
Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday dissociated itself from Bishops who attended the unveiling of the vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kashim Shettima, describing them as desperados who went there for themselves.
Amid stiff opposition from Christian groups and individuals, including the umbrella body, CAN, a coalition of Bishops and some pastors were at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre, venue of the official unveiling of Shettima as running mate to presidential candidate of the governing party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The clerics who were adorned in their cassock and other priestly attires turned out in large number at the unveiling ceremony, creating curiosity about criticisms that trailed the choice of Shettima, another Muslim from the North to Tinubu, a southern Muslim.
The Bishops and other clerics said they attended the unveiling ceremony in solidarity and support for Tinubu-Shettima presidential ticket.
But the Christian organisation said although the presidential candidate of the APC, Tinubu, was free to hire mechanics and other artisans and sew clerical garments for them, the effort would only add to their many ropes but would not change the need for fairness and justice.
The vice president of CAN (19 Northern States and Abuja) and its chairman in Kaduna State, Rev Joseph John Hayab, made this position in an interview with journalists in Abuja.
CAN said, “The people we saw at the unveiling of Shettima paraded as Bishops are people who did not have enough time to learn how to wear Bishop’s garments. Take a closer look at their photo and you will see another Nollywood movie.
“CAN wonders why the desperation. First, a story was out claiming to have come from the chairman of CAN, Borno State, only to be refuted. Secondly, there was another lie that BAT (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) and his running mate were on their way to meet CAN president one night. A meeting that was not true and was on a night that the CAN president was in Alabama, USA, attending the Baptist World Alliance Conference of which he is the Vice President”.
Noting that another desperate story was that they met Papa Adeboye, which the RCCG later refuted, CAN said if Christians are not important why the desperation?
“BAT is free to hire mechanics and other artisans and sew clerical garments for them, an effort that will only add to their many ropes when the political exercise is over, but it will not change the need for fairness and justice that CAN is calling for.
“CAN appreciate that we are in a democracy; no need to do funny and dubious things just to prove a point because it will in the end bounce back. BAT’s team should simply do what is right and stop the drama,” CAN said.
I Fear APC Muslim-Muslim Ticket – Sani
Immediate past secretary-general of the apex northern socio-cultural organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony Sani, has expressed fear that the Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket of the APC will help stoke allegations of Islamisation of the country.
Reacting to the unveiling of the APC presidential ticket ahead of 2023 general election, Sani who was also the former spokesperson of ACF said, “My hankering for Muslim-Christian ticket is not so much about electability of any combination in the duet as to the aftermath of the victory. This is because I fear that the Muslim-Muslim ticket will help stoke the allegations of Islamisation by those who do not wish the ruling party well.
North East Movement Backs Tinubu
But the Northeast Strategic Movement for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima (ABAT&KIS) defended the choice of the former governor of Borno State as running mate to the former governor of Lagos State.
The group said the formal unveiling of Shettima by the APC is a decision taken in the right direction to further stabilise the polity.
The convener of the group, Hajia Asma Bashir Danladi, stated this during the unveiling of Kashim Shettima formally as running mate of the APC flagbearer, Tinubu, at the Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
In an interview, Asma said that the choice of Shettima was divine and done for the benefit of the staunch supporters of the party which can easily garner support for the party in all the nook and cranny of the country.
“We in the movement have strategized to mobilise for the victory of Asiwaju and Shettima as a winning train in order to emerge victorious.
“We endorse the choice of Shettima. We will support them. We will move from one point to the other in the North East to ensure that they are accepted, supported and voted for.
“Very big thank you to our party delegates who voted for BAT and we thank Asiwaju who also made the choice of Kashim Shettima and finally unveiled him today at this prestigious Yar’Adua centre Abuja,” she said.
Protest Rocks APC Secretariat
Meanwhile, a group of APC Hausa-Fulani members yesterday protested at the national secretariat of the party against the Muslim- Muslim ticket adopted by the party.
The APC members who handed a letter to the national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, titled, “2023 Elections: We say no to Muslim-Muslim Ticket, ” said it is worrying that it is only the APC that fielded a Muslim -Muslim ticket out of the major political parties in the country.
The letter signed by Abdullahi Bilal Mohamadu and Shafiu Dakin-gari, president and secretary of the group respectively, noted: “We wish to write to your good office in light of the prevailing circumstances arising from the decision of our Presidential candidate to select a Northern Muslim as his vice presidential candidate.
“While it must be stated that there is a right to make decisions, however, such decisions must not be made to the collective detriment of the sensibilities of the people that make up the country of Nigeria especially at a time of mutual suspicion amongst the Christians and Muslims in the northern part of the country.
