As Hon. Obiagbon would say” crinkum crankum”.. the best word to use as able description of the noises and discordant tunes around the fate of the Asiwaju/Shettima APC presidential ticket is crinkum crankum. I am guessing that all the crinkum crankum and the hulabaloo about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR; dropping or picking Vice President Kashim Shettima for a second term is virtually over. The time has come for that nomination and it seems more than likely that the winning ticket of 2023 would remain as we head for the 2027 polls. I was more than a vociferous supporter of Shettima during the 2022 nomination process. In fact, it was Shettima’s political allure that convinced me 100% that Tinubu, aka Asiwaju, Jagaban, is the right person to lead Nigeria after the now Muhammadu Buhari. Of course, I decided to support Jagaban as a party faithful and was supportive even before the primaries. Shettima added the ginger to it all. I was drawn to Shettima long ago via my visits to Borno state courtesy his friend and chief of staff, Abu Kyari, CON, an uncle of mine. Uncle Abu’s late dad, Brig. Kyari, was my dad’s classmate, and addedly, Kyari’s wife, aka mommy, is my mum’s younger sister. My mum is aka Anti Yelwa. So, my support for Shettima also goes a long way back.
In Shettima I saw “a war time master builder”, I also saw, “a war time master builder does it again”. These two are separate articles that highlighted Shettima’s progressive and reformative governance policies and deliveries during his tenure as Borno governor. In another piece written four years ago, a birthday tribute titled, “Kashim @56: through all the rudiments, has all the condiments”, I confessed that it was not tiring but rather scintillating and ever more interesting as I covered Shettima’s political/leadership sojourn, starting from 28th April, 2019. Our APC leader, Tinubu, was in Borno state to commission 432 resettlement houses in 13 villages. Jagaban also commissioned 13 new primary and secondary schools, as well as a luxury 26 apartments on 5 detached 3-storey buildings to serve as residence for medical doctors working in government hospitals in the state. Hajiya Maryam Abacha, former first lady, also commissioned a 250-bed ultra-modern women and children hospital in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. It was named in her honour. President Buhari also commissioned several plants as part of an industrial hub/plant housing several plants. Most notable was the 150MW capacity solar power plant in the state.
At the beginning of the Asiwaju for President’s movement to secure the APC nomination, I wrote a series, including: “Kashim: the Jagaban of Jagaban’s campaign”. In one of his most salient campaign vibes tone, he scolded us about the hacks among us with a poor sense of history that have so quickly and cowardly forgotten the path that led us to the choice of Asiwaju as our preferred nomination for the APC presidential ticket in 2022. I was so excited by Shettima’s oratorical skills and was bedazzled by his command of English and the stage presence to speak it. I sneered, wow! a Kanuri man with so much turenci in his hands? As a Fulani banter partner of the Kanuri, I declared that the Fulani empire in Nigeria were finished (pun intended). Shettima did not relent from upbraiding our memories and stressing how Asiwaju was the father and host of all the compatriots that fled the country in the heat of the military’s clampdown on pro-democracy activists of the 1990s. In the Jagaban of Jagaban’s team article, I presented to the Nigerian public my choice for the leadership/head of the Asiwaju campaigns. I believed and still very much do; that Shettima was my VP pick as he was one of the most eloquent, and cerebral persons in the team. He is one of the most prominent personalities too, as he was arguably the best performing governor of his time due to the insecurity that ordinarily would have obliterated his functions and achievements as governor.
Even after Shettima’s nomination as VP to Mr. President, in an article titled, “starboy 2.01”, which I had written during the 62nd annual general meeting of the NBA, I staunchly defended Shettima as he became a subject of ridicule following his dressing to the NBA conference. Among very many pieces I have written on Shettima, the most recent and most central to today’s piece was “Shettima: passion not compassion”.
It was more of a salvo to the North-western politicians and their mouth pieces, who were ridiculously alleging that Shettima was, or would, be picked on compassionate grounds, thereby belittling his political weight, intellect, influence, and prowess across the North. It was intent on erasing that fact that Shettima was a war time governor who beat the odds to deliver dividends to Borno, and bequeath a leadership maestro like Gov. Babagana Umara Zulum.
I lamented that their said insinuations were of the same style as the NBA ridicule, and I wasn’t going to sit and watch our VP from our dear North-east being treated like some lightweight pushover.
I thoroughly believe it is Mr. President’s prerogative to have a final say of whom he wishes to have or to continue with. I needed to remind the naysayers that Shettima actually beat other governors who sort of contested for the VP position.
Fast forward to today: most governors today eyed or were eying the position again, and the fracas at the Gombe zonal APC event eventually elicited the article tagged, “Shettima: passion not compassion”. Shettima’s passion for the Jagaban national project gave him the pedestal to stair up into national prominence in the Asiwaju school of politics, and most certainly not mere compassion as Jaafar Jaafar put it. In my piece, I summarised that the melee in Gombe, the resignation of Ganduje, and the “coalition dramedy” had really put VP Shettima on the front burner at the time (North-east zonal meeting in Gombe 10 months ago).
But, and the really big but, is that through it all, Mr. President has been full of commendations, public commendations of the energy, work-spirit, commitment, passion and sagacity of his vice-president.
Yours sincerely, who has been supportive of Shettima and has through the years covered the Shettima story since 2019, is more than convinced that rattling the ticket at this material time can be counterproductive for us, the APC. As a Kashim enthusiast who has even been named Talba na Kashim, I also believe that, in all fairness, Shettima has survived and thrived well under the leadership and mentorship of my able President, whom I have now christened, JAGABADAYAN NIGERIA. Yesterday, the Borno APC Caucus endorsed the Asiwaju/Shettima ticket and I believe soon enough it will have the whirlwind effect across the caucuses Insha Allah. And “now here we go”, If I may cull from “Fabrizio Romano”.