Again, Shettima in the Eye of the Storm

BRIEFINGNOTES

After surmounting the impregnable forces and intrigues against him to emerge successful in perhaps the most hotly contested presidential primary since the return of democracy in 1999, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu has put his political might to another difficult litmus test with the selection of a former Governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima, a fellow Muslim, as his presidential running mate.

The former Governor of Lagos State had shocked the political bookmakers when he successfully used his widely-acclaimed political sagacity to bulldoze his way to clinch the APC presidential ticket despite all the plots and intrigues by the successive leaderships of his party and a section of the presidency to stop him.

This record-breaking feat might have propelled him to  dare Christian voters after his party had divided the country along religious and ethnic lines. The APC presidential candidate last Monday unveiled a fellow Muslim, Shettima, as his running mate, in a Muslim-Muslim ticket last proposed by the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, who ran with a fellow Muslim, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe.

In his speech when he unveiled Shettima, the APC presidential candidate stated that “the spirit of 1993 is upon us again in 2023,” adding that the former Governor of Borno State is eminently qualified to deliver that all important electoral victory.

“As a man with the talent, maturity, strength of character, and patriotism he has my implicit confidence and faith,”  Tinubu said.

But many Nigerians, including his supporters and other APC members think otherwise. Those against the choice of a Muslim running mate argued that it was not proper for the APC presidential candidate to compare the politics of 1993 when religion was not a factor in the then united Nigeria, to the current situation where the country is sharply divided along ethnic and religious lines, with Christians being killed by terrorists across the country.

Only very recently, five United States’ senators sent a letter to Secretary of State, Antony Blinken urging him to immediately redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act, following what they described as the recent acts of violence targeting Nigerian Christians, which had underscored the deteriorating state of religious freedom in the country.

With the renewed attacks on Christians nationwide, the opponents of Muslim-Muslim ticket believe that this ticket would further alienate Christians, worsen their plight and deepen religious tension in the country.

With Muslims as APC’s presidential candidate, vice presidential candidate, National Chairman, Deputy National Chairman, President, Senate President, Speaker of House of Representatives, and Deputy Speaker, many have alleged that the ruling party has Islamisation agenda.

Critics of Muslim-Muslim ticket have also pooh-poohed the claim by the supporters of the ticket that northern Muslims would not vote for Tinubu if he fielded a northern Christian as running mate. According to these critics, if the northern Muslim voters will not accept Tinubu, a fellow Muslim, unless he runs with one of their own, the implication is that Muslims in Nigeria are not of equal status.

Many APC members, including Tinubu’s ardent supporters have also faulted the choice of Shettima.

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal, has described Shettima in not-so-pleasant language.

“And why Kashim Shetima? He is an overambitious man who has a Machiavellian bent and has lots of money with which to procure a preferred-candidate status among Tinubu’s lapdogs. And as we are beginning to see, to also procure bogus supporters, especially from among the Christian community to help launder his no-so-good image,” Lawal reportedly said in a statement issued last Wednesday.

He then dropped the bombshell:  “I advise Bola to make sure Kashima’s two hands are always in his plain sight and empty.”

Many believe that Lawal’s advise puts a question mark on Shettima’s strength of character. Unlike his successor, Professor Babagana Zulum, the former Borno State governor came to national limelight on the wrong reason – his alleged controversial role in the April 14, 2014 abduction of over 276 Chibok school girls in his state.

Shettima was an ardent critic of the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan over what he described as the failure of the administration to secure the lives of Nigerians in the North

But when insecurity in the North worsened under Buhari, he refused to criticise the president. Following the worsening insecurity under the current administration, Shettima broke down in tears before Buhari at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa on January 7, 2019. 

A few days before crying at the Villa, he had disclosed that he could not criticise Buhari, the same way he criticised Jonathan over the insecurity in the North-east because Jonathan’s presidency had treated him as an enemy while he had unfettered access to Buhari.

Shettima held Jonathan with so much disdain that he did not call him to brief him after Boko Haram abducted the school girls from Chibok. He claimed that he deliberately did that because he knew that security agencies must have briefed Jonathan of the development the day it happened.

The then Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation for the 2015 general election, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, had in March 2015 alleged  that Shettima was culpable in the  abduction of the 276 Chibok girls. But the then Borno State governor swiftly denied the allegation, saying no one should take Fani-Kayode serious as he “is one Nigerian that is physically an adult but mentally an infant. “We all know that going into exchange with an infant is like having a dialogue with the blind, deaf and dumb.”

But Shettima’s critics insisted that his alleged complacence led to the abduction. A letter sent by the then Supervising Minister of Education and Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike to Shettima on March 12, 2014, requesting him to relocate Senior School Certificate Examination candidates of Federal Unity Schools to Maiduguri, the state capital, was allegedly ignored.

Wike had at the time, expressed fears over security challenges, and said the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examination Council of Nigeria (NECO) had also expressed concerns as well.

A month after, on April 14, Boko Haram terrorists hit Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, and abducted the 276 female students. Shettima and his predecessor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff had also traded blame on the sponsorship of Boko Haram. The then Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Borno State, Hon. Kaka Shehu Lawan had accused Sheriff of being responsible for the growth of the dreaded Islamic terrorist group, saying that he should be arrested and prosecuted.  But the spokesman of Sheriff, Inuwa Bwala, said rather than being the sponsor of the group, Sheriff was a victim of the sect having lost three of his brothers to the terrorist group. Bwala alleged that officials of Shettima’s administration were “more likely people to be suspected given the fact that at the time he left government, no public official has been accused of being linked to the sect.” 

Indeed, the terrorist that planned the Christmas Day (December 25, 2011) bombing at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, Mr. Kabiru Sokoto was allegedly arrested along with a “serving military personnel” at the Borno State Governor‘s Lodge in Abuja when Shettima was governor.

With the controversy over Muslim-Muslim ticket and Shettima’s moral burden, will the ticket be able to attract the targeted votes that will guarantee victory for Tinubu at the presidential poll? This is a question for February 25, 2023.