Shettima: A Pearl from North-East

Michael Olugbode

Born September 2, 1966, to the family of Sir Kashim Ibrahim, a Kanuri from Maiduguri, the Borno State, and married to Nana Shettima, with children, Kashim Shettima comes to the stage with a well-off resume.

He attended Lamisula Primary School, Maiduguri from 1972 to 1978; Government Community Secondary School, Biu in southern part of Borno State from 1978 to 1980; transferred to Government Science Secondary School, Potiskum (now in neighbouring Yobe State), where he completed his secondary education in 1983.

Shettima studied at the University of Maiduguri and earned a Degree (BSc) in Agricultural Economics in 1989. He had a year compulsory youth service at the defunct Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative Bank, Calabar, capital of Cross River State in South-south, Nigeria, from 1989 to 1990.
He further obtained a master’s degree (MSc) in Agricultural Economics in 1991 at the University of Ibadan. Shettima joined the University of Maiduguri as a Lecturer with the Department of Agricultural Economics and was in the academia from 1991 to 1993.

He was later to join the banking sector in 1993, when he was employed by (now defunct) Commercial Bank of Africa Limited as head of accounts unit at the bank’s office in Ikeja, Lagos State. He left the bank in 1997 to African International Bank Limited as a Deputy Manager and rose to become a Manager in 2001.
In 2001, he moved to the Zenith Bank as head of its main branch in Maiduguri. It was from the Zenith Bank that he was picked by Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to become first the Borno State Commissioner for Finance. He later traverse the Ministries of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Agriculture, Education and Health, where he cut his teeth in public administration.

He became the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after the assassination of Modu Fannami Gubio, who was already picked as the standard bearer of the party.

Shettima’s election as the party’s flag bearer put paid to his fledging career at the Zenith Bank, where he had risen to Senior Manager/Branch Head; Assistant General Manager (AGM)/Zonal Head (North-East), Deputy General Manager/Zonal Head (North-East) and the General Manager as he had to drop his resignation to contest for governorship at the 2011 election.
Shettima, who was elected with a vision to transform Borno, could not however turn his dream into reality as Boko Haram almost overran the state and at a point in time, controlled a larger stretch of the state.

At a particular time in the history of the state, it was like a bet between him and Boko Haram, who would win the battle of building and destruction. Whenever he built, Boko Haram would destroy, and the battle has yet to subside even after he left office. He limited himself to Maiduguri, the state capital and a few other local governments and he was able to make Maiduguri, a place of pride in spite of the crisis.
Shettima, a highly emotional person, could not but cry in those days, when almost on a daily basis, he had condolence visits to make and subjects to bury. No wonder he became popular with few challenges of the military and the C-in-C, President Goodluck Jonathan, whom he fell out with during the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls. Many strong supporters of Jonathan largely still see Shettima as an instrument used by the APC to rubbish Jonathan. This would take time to change.

Shettima and Tinubu became soulmates, when Shettima was seeking his reelection in the days of the formation of APC and Tinubu stood by him to ward off the threat from Ali Modu Sheriff, who was waiting to take a pound of flesh off him. It was this that, perhaps, pushed Sheriff into the PDP and support for Jonathan that failed and he later retraced his steps back to the APC.
Shettima, who was governor of Borno State between 2011 and 2019, ran his government on the similar template used by Tinubu in Lagos.
Among his closest aides were an Ibo Christian from Anambra State in the Southeast, an Urhobo Christian from Delta State in the South-South, a Fulani man from Gombe in the northeast and a Hausa man from Zamfara State in the northwest were all his image managers. He also had Yoruba Christians from the Southwest as friends.

Shettima’s leadership credentials have attracted positive recognition within and outside Nigeria. He emerged the 2014 Governor of the Year (Leadership Newspapers), Governor of the Year, 2015, (Nigeria Union of Journalists, national body); Governor of the Year, 2015 (NewsWatchTimesNewspapers); Governor of the Year, 2015 (Vanguard Newspapers); Governor of the Year, 2016 (Tell Magazine); 2017 Zik Prize for Leadership; Kaduna NUJ Award for courage and exceptional leadership (2017), FCT NUJ Merit Award for exceptional Leadership, 2017.

After the completion of his stewardship in Borno, he left for the National Assembly as a senator representing Borno Central and has not performed badly. There is hardly any arguments you can win against Shettima, whose first hobby is reading and the second, memorising all he read and third, delivering what he read.
The issue of Tinubu’s Presidency threw him up again into National limelight, when he was among the first known voices in support of the now presidential candidate of the APC. He was among the first voices from the North to say it amounted to injustice if the power was not allowed to move to the South, and he was surely at his oratorical best, when at a launch of Tinubu presidential aspiration, he said the job of the president is not that of bricklaying.
Senator Shettima, could rightly be said to be the first proponent of “Emi lokan” (It is my turn to rule, which Tinubu came up with when he saw power slipping away from him). He had said at the Abuja launch of the Tinubu Support Groups Management Council (SGMC), that Tinubu deserved the right of first refusal for his diligence in birthing the APC and securing the 2015 presidential ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari, and called on the president then to reward the loyalty of the former Lagos governor.

When the campaign was getting tougher in the APC and some were ready to opt for either the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo or the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, it was Shettima that came out to take the bullet and described the presidential contest as not one for selling ice-cream and tomatoes.
“Nobody has doubted the competence of Proessor Osinbajo. He’s a very cerebral person, but we believe that in terms of intellect, capacity, reach and the ability to move this nation forward, and most importantly, for us to win the upcoming election, the best candidate that the APC has is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Mind you, the dynamics has changed with the emergence of Atiku as the candidate of the PDP. We need someone who can match and even overshadow him in terms of brand name recognition, in terms of capacity. This is why we are championing the cause of Asiwaju Tinubu.

Osinbajo is a good man; he’s a nice man. But nice men do not make good leaders, because nice men tend to be nasty. Nice men should be selling popcorn, ice cream.

“But he’s a very decent person. I can’t doubt that. He’s my personal friend and I’ll rather not comment on his person. But he’s a very decent man. That I can tell you.”

Shettima, many believe, merited his position as he saw ahead of others, and was quick to identify with Tinubu and was ready to mount the podium to sell what he believes as well asgo to the public to take the bullet for him, when the situation calls for it. His choice as the APC vice presidential candidate is a reward for dedication and support, in addition to competence and capacity.

Perhaps, the latent pearl in Shettima has been unearthed for the nation to see what still made Borno, in spite of all the crises of Boko Haram, home to many.