UNLESS you are a great supporter of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Jagaban Borgu, you should be celebrating the Muslim-Muslim ticket he opted for after wide consultations. It turns out that many party chieftains feel left out of the process. They claim there was no process.
Why are the other parties unhappy about a major mistake that Tinubu has made? They shouldn’t be. There is more about his choice, Senator Kashim Shettima, than they are ready to accept.
A vice presidential candidate, a possible President of Nigeria, should not carry the baggage that Shettima seems to proudly bear, publicly, privately with hordes of supporters who have grown in their expertise – swinging logic on all sides, until the issues are complicated out of context.
One thought that the end of place holders would have afforded more clarity on Tinubu’s presidential ticket of shuffles from one uncertainty to the other. What has not changed is his claim that the presidency was his by entitlement. He has people who think like him all in the name of choices.
Entitlement was an issue in 2014 when many accepted he should reap from his labour in helping President Muhammadu Buhari to office.
When it was time to fill the Vice President slot, everyone bulked at the sheer mention of a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Nigeria’s diversities cannot accommodate such narrowness.
Was that not why Tinubu was not Buhari’s partner in 2014? What has changed since then, especially in a country where the divisiveness of religion attempts new ascendancies daily? A lot has changed with the unkept promises of Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress, APC, each election season.
Insecurity that is top on the agenda of the election – more than ever before – is linked to the brazen destructions that Boko Haram wrecks with abandon wherever and whenever it pleases.
Shettima would not qualify to be on the ballot in many areas. His ability to gloss over his involvements with Boko Haram without concerns indicate two major possibilities, he is on the ticket to appease Boko Haram or when you are an APC candidate you become the exception to the rule.
If he was not having meals with Boko Haram how does he explain others dalliances with the sect? His documented media positions on Boko Haram portray him in worse lights than the defences being mounted on his behalf.
There must be an explanation for Kabiru Sokoto, also called Kabiru Umar, who was implicated in the 2011 Christmas Day bombing of St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State taking refuge at the Borno State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja when security agencies were on his trail.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola while sentencing Kabiru to life imprisonment noted that Kabiru was arrested in the Borno State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja. He urged the police to fully investigate that aspect of the case to ascertain whether the Boko Haram sect to which Kabiru belongs could be enjoying the support of some influential personalities.
Shetima was the Governor of Borno State at the time.
The death toll in Madalla was 44. More than 75 people were injured. The part of the judgement that asked for an investigation of how Kabiru found the Borno State Governor’s Lodge a haven after he wanted for terrorising Nigeria, has not been implemented.
Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Matthew Hassan Kukah tried to play down religion in the election. He advised that options were available to those who did not like the Muslim-Muslim ticket. He is partially right.
The effrontery of a Muslim-Muslim ticket is an early indication that winning was more important to Tinubu than how he wins. Importance of issues like insecurity, economy, justice, citizen rights and obligations has been abridged by the insensitivity of Shettima’s selection.
Most people are not taking the matter lightly. A rash of resignations of APC members from the party has been linked to the Muslim-Muslim ticket. What value would Shettima bring to the Tinubu ticket that made him the choice? When will he start answering the questions about his links to the most dreaded terrorist group in Nigeria’s history?
His unclear relationship with Boko Haram is a more frightening issue than the non-inclusiveness that a Muslim-Muslim ticket presents. Even among Muslims the debate is why he was picked of all the Muslims who were available for selection.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has its vice presidential candidate Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa showing off his achievements in Delta State from job-creating to infrastructural development as qualities he is bringing to the Atiku Abubakar ticket. He readily fields questions on what he did and can still do on a national platform.
Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed of the Labour Party relatively unknown still is seem as urbane, a private sector investor with business interests that include university education. He addresses issues about his background with candour.
What will we know Shettima for going into the election? We may long have lowered scrutiny for aspirants to public offices. Must we also treat our security with more indifference at a time of high insecurity nationwide?
The 2023 election will be more on insecurity than any other matter. Shettima’s inclusion on a presidential ticket is the best indication yet that Tinubu’s ambition is about him and he is willing to please whoever he must to achieve it.
Read also: Muslim-Muslim ticket: APC crises deepen, as Christians protest in Abuja
Finally…
IF the dispute between the Federal Government and ASUU is soon resolved it would be because elections are important. We need the lecturers as returning officers of the polls. Their training should commence soon.
PRESIDENT Buhari said education is the best legacy parents should leave for their children. The legacy is so important that it would not be available to all Nigerians. ASUU’s unaddressed strike ensures that only the rich and elite public servants, including the President, can afford the legacy that is now procured abroad.
.Isiguzo is a major commentator on minor issues
