A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr. Babachir Lawal, has condemned the nomination of a former governor of Borno State, Sen. Kashim Shettima, as the vice-presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 general election.
The APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, had on Sunday announced Shettima as his running mate for the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking on the development via a statement issued on Sunday night, Lawal described the APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket as a “disastrous error”, saying it will drag down the whole party members to the pit and should be rejected.
The former SGF stated: “I thought I will be able to avoid commenting on the disastrous error by my very good friend, Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his choice of a running mate.
“I will be the very last person to stand in the way of my very good friend Tinubu’s path to the presidency. This is because since 2011 my consuming passion has been for him to succeed Buhari as President of Nigeria.”
He added that he had conveyed his reservations to Tinubu against the “pitfalls” of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, noting that he had on many occasions argued the merits and demerits of both ticket permutations to him and had also in both verbal and written form showed his displeasure to such development.
Lawal stated: “I have also on several occasions passed on to him counsels and messages from some well-meaning Nigerians intended to alert him on the possible outcomes of the Presidential ticket permutations.
“Tinubu is a very good man. He is a great listener. He has a very humble and friendly disposition to everyone. He is very generous in both cash and kind, especially where it could advance his political interests. But I have realized that it is in the nature of power that sycophants and lapdogs have the most influence on leaders with such character traits.
“They will lie to him, malign and disparage others and generally do anything to curry his favor and to also put well-meaning associates in bad light. I suspect this is what has happened to my friend. He has been cornered by self-serving, hero-worshiping, lapdogs.
“It never used to be like this. While in his hay-days in Lagos, he surrounded himself with smart, street-wise guys that could tell truth to power. He had Rauph Aregbesola, Yomi Osinbajo, Babatunde Fashola, Dele Alake, Muiz Banire, etc. The Lagos days were the days of think-tanks, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, principles, and ideologies.
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“But these people have since grown-up and moved up to establish their own systems living my friend stranded. Nature they say abhors vacuum.
“Welcome the Abuja equivalent. But the Abuja equivalent are people inflicted with the modern Nigerian diseases – religious bigotry, sycophancy, and morbid tribalism. They are mostly political jobbers who are most times not averse to the application of diabolical means.
“Gone are the days of think-tanks and strategic planning. Gone are the days of principles and ideologies. Try and call a meeting; they will not attend. Try and make a plan; they will sabotage it. Everything is ad-hoc, everything is chaotic because they excel in such environments.
“The result is that they have played on his long-term ambition to be President and have built it into a sort of desperation and a crescendo that easily justifies this satanic resort to a Muslim-Muslim ticket. This is the calamity that has befallen my friend,” Lawal added.
The former SGF further described Shettima as “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. But as a popular proverb goes: “Those whom the gods want to destroy they first make mad”.
“It appears that the gods want to destroy the APC and its presidential candidate and have chosen the instrumentality of the northern Moslem governors and their super ambitious tool and Kashim Ibrahim for this purpose.
“Alhaji Kashim Shetima is a Greek gift from the Northern governors to Tinubu. I advise Bola to make sure Kashima’s two hands are always in his plain sight and empty.
“Tinubu has made his choice. And I am sure he thinks he is ready for the outcome of that choice. He has chosen to bring religion to the front burner of Nigerian politics. And being a Muslim he has chosen to take sides with his own religion. For all he cares, Christians can go to blazes with their votes,” he stated.
Lawal noted that Tinubu must also be told that there would consequence for picking a Muslim as his running mate, adding that some of them are that Christians all over the country will revolt against the APC to put the chances of his election in serious jeopardy.
He said the development could result in APC being a minority party in both the National and State Houses of Assembly.
The ex-SGF added: “Now tell me which Christian will vote for APC with the following contraption: Moslem Presidential Candidate (Lagos), Moslem Vice Presidential Candidate (Borno), Moslem National Chairman (Nasarawa), Moslem Deputy National Chairman (Borno), Moslem President (Katsina); Moslem Senate President (Yobe); Moslem Speaker (Lagos); Moslem Deputy Speaker (Plateau) e.t.c.
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“The northern governors and some northern moslem elites must have persuaded him that they will never vote for a ticket that has a northern Christian on it. And he has agreed with them. But if he thinks a Moslem-Moslem ticket will win him the northern Muslim votes, he should have a rethink. They will massively vote for one of their sons because it is in their nature to do so. Buhari, their first son will not be on the ballot in 2023. Atiku their second son will be.
“So if my very good friend Tinubu in a desperate bid to become President allows himself to made into a religious bigot or even a mujahideen, he is welcome. But it is a risk that will not play out positively for his presidential bid.
“But, were he to win and become President of Nigeria, it will be as a sectional President; an Islamic President. And he will surely face massive discontent and opposition even before taking off.”
Lawal further called on President Muhammadu Buhari to exercise his powers as the Commander-in-Chief and as the APC leader to revoke Shettima’s nomination as the party’s vice-presidential candidate, saying the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, should refuse to sign the nomination forms if not rescinded.
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