21st July, 2022
By Emmanuel Mogbede
Sen. Kashim Shettima said he never supported the presidential ambition of Bola Tinubu in order to gain favours and become his running mate.
Shettima stated this on Wednesday in Abuja when he was formally presented as the APC’s Vice-Presidential candidate and Tinubu’s running mate by Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, the National Chairman of the party.
He noted that he believes in Tinubu’s plan for Nigeria and it is time to sing songs of unity, peace, prosperity and stability to make Nigeria the pride of the black race.
Shettima said: “Rome was not destroyed by outside Invaders, but by the complacency of Romans.
“In the coming week and months, we have to go into the trenches, go into the nooks and crannies to sing songs of unity, peace, prosperity, and stability.
“Let us unite this country and make her the pride of the black man.”
He described Sen. Bola Tinubu, the party’s presidential candidate as a political titan with selfless character.
While speaking on his nomination and the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket, Shettima said it was time we went beyond malicious concoctions and dubious aspersions.
“I don’t intend to be Vice-President to represent members of the Muslim community, no, the Sultan of Sokoto is capable of doing that.
“I don’t seek to be the Vice-Presidential of Nigeria to protect the interest of the Hausa Kanuri tribe in the North, no, I believe in the Nigeria project.
“Asiwaju Bola Tinubu believes in the Nigerian project, and I swear in the name of God that I never supported Asiwaju to be his running mate.
“I supported the project because of moral compulsion, Shettima who currently represents Borno Central in the National Assembly said.
Meanwhile, he said that there was no weight he carried very carefully as much as the burden of trust.
“I stand here today, because of the testaments of those who believed in me, I will never take the expectations of the public for granted,” the former Borno governor said.
He noted that APC’s successes in the last two presidential elections were not magic shows, but rewards for its foresighted and pragmatic decisions.
This, he said, included sacrifices of personal interest and sectional sentiments for the overriding interest of the party.
He added that having led the party through successive two presidential elections and resisted the temptations of imposing a successor, President Muhammadu Buhari remained the man of the moment.
Shettima said Buhari must be remembered for passing the touch to the choice of the party’s members in the person of Tinubu.
He said the hope of the black man rest with the Igbo people of South-East Nigeria because they were geographically mobile, economically enterprising, and educationally ambitious.
He added that the hope of the black man also rests with the Yoruba people of the South-West for their enterprising nature and the Hausa people of the North for their hard work.
Furthermore, Shettima said that the hope of Nigeria rested on the ethnic minority that glued the country together.
He paid glowing tribute to Nigerians who had seen beyond the APC 2023 Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, especially some Catholic Bishops, saying it is time to move forward.