The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Murtala Ajaka, said the choice of Senator Kashim Shettima as the party’s vice-presidential candidate had unsettled opposition camps ahead of the 2023 election.
KEMI FILANI NEWS had reported that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced Shettima as his running mate after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at his Daura home in Katsina State on Sunday.
Ajaka said the Peoples Democratic Party, had been thrown off-balance and still reeling from Tinubu’s choice of Shettima.
The APC deputy scribe, who disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja, called on Nigerians to ignore opposition parties’ fear of a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
He described Shettima as a man of knowledge and courage.
He said: “The sterling qualities of our vice presidential candidate, in person of Senator Kashim Shettima, has once again thrown the opposition parties off-balance. They (PDP and others) would have preferred our presidential candidate to settle for the less so as to make it easy for them to win election (God forbid), but the choice of the trusted and trustworthy Shettima must have disorganised their evil plans, we understand them in the APC.
“While we sympathise with the opposition parties, we appeal to Nigerians, who will eventually be the beneficiaries of good governance under Tinubu-Shettima presidency, to see beyond the sentiments of religion and tribe. Both Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima are not religious fundamentalists or ultra Muslims, their records in public offices are testimonies to rely on.
“As a two-term governor in Borno State, Shettima enjoyed the support of the Christian community throughout his tenure. In fact, the Borno chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) testified that ‘In the history of Borno State, there is no Governor that has been fair to the Christian Community as much as Governor Kashim Shettima.’
“For example, it was Governor Shettima, in the history of Borno, that has sponsored the highest number of Christian Pilgrims every year since 2011 till he left office. This and many other records of mutual respect for all faiths are there to verify in Borno State.”
