The vice-presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Sen. Kashim Shettima, has said the APC’s 2023 presidential ticket represents “Nigerian project”.

Shettima said his acceptance as the running mate of the APC presidential standard-bearer, Bola Tinubu, has indicated Nigerians have hope in the party’s presidential ticket, adding that his acceptance as the party’s vice-presidential candidate was an assurance that the citizens were again prepared to choose competence over sentiment.

The former governor of Borno State said this in Abuja on Wednesday at his unveiling as the APC’s vice-presidential candidate for the 2023 general election.

He further stated that the success of the APC in the past two presidential elections was not “magic shows”, saying it was a reward for the party’s “foresighted, and pragmatic decisions, to sacrifice our personal interests and sectional sentiments, for the overriding prospects of our great party.

“We are again on the cusp of history, and left with no option, other than collaborating assiduously again, to pursue the collective interest of APC’s stakeholders, across ethnic, religious, and regional stations.

“Having led us through two successful elections, and resisted the bait to impose a successor, President Muhammadu Buhari remains the man of the season; a leader who must be remembered, for passing the torch to the choice of the party’s majority, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Shettima said.

He noted that his emergence as the running mate of Tinubu was based on the party’s forthright assessment of the threats ahead, noting that the APC’s presidential ticket was not an imposition.

The former governor stated the party’s ticket was an outcome of “democracy at its practical best”, saying it was based on the aggregation of the ideas and insights, of the party’s stakeholders.

“If this were an unpopular option, as the cast of partisan provocateurs has attempted to paint, there wouldn’t have been the tonnes of goodwill messages, especially from distinguished Christians, from all over the country. This ticket is a Nigerian project, not a sectional agenda, that the frightened camps have been struggling to sensationalise.

“I’m sincerely proud of the rational citizens, who view this, as nothing but a pragmatic permutation, to defeat our opponents at the polls, and based on acknowledgment and implementation of the candid perspectives of our Christian brothers and sisters in the APC, who, like us, are bound by the passion for us to retain power, in order to deepen the delivery of unifying and transformative governance, to Nigerians.

“About thirty years ago, Nigerians from both sides of the Niger, came together to market the ideals of a ticket like ours. They overlooked the pedestrian attempts to politicize the religious affiliations of the presidential candidate and running mate, and yielded to the message of hope; and the manifesto of prosperity promised them.

READ ALSO: Tinubu: I made hard choice Picking Shettima as running mate

“The MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe ticket, defied the stereotype of Nigerians, as hopelessly sectional, and incapable of prioritizing reason over sentiments. That ticket, even though it was opposed by the same agents that doubted its success, has remained the best moment, of our various experiments with democracy, so far.

“This reincarnation of the 30-year-old hope that produced the late MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe, came at a time the country is being pushed to the edge of anarchy, by conflict entrepreneurs, in gaudy suits and babanriga,” Shettima added.

The senator further stated that the endorsement of Tinubu at the APC presidential primaries in Abuja by aspirants and his subsequent election by party’s delegates was a clear message that “Nigerians are beyond the stereotypes of those desperate to tear the people apart”.

Shettima said: “The goodwill messages that have poured in, since the announcement of my selection, as running mate, to the high-performing Jagaban Borgu, easily underscore the depth of hope that our people are investing, in the ticket.

“And I do not doubt that the amplitude of this love, across the country, from Abia through to Zamfara, is an assurance that Nigerians are again prepared to choose the competence of their unifying representatives, over any expression of primordial sentiments.

“We all witnessed the decisive blows dealt the bigotry dispensed by a hopeless minority, ahead of the APC presidential primaries, last June. The futility of their propaganda, showed that Nigerians aren’t the unthinking robots some are quick to call them.

“Nigerians are rational beings, with the capability to tell an invidious agenda apart, from sincere concern for them. They are not the uncritical consumers of clickbait and falsehoods, as some of us think they are. They see through the bigots, masquerading as patriots and, very importantly, they know those who represent their interests, even in the quietest and darkest of meeting rooms.”

The former governor further expressed his appreciation to the leadership of the ruling party, who consulted widely to choose Tinubu’s running mate for the 2023 general election, saying he was grateful for “the opportunity to be a part of this history”.

Shettima equally expressed his readiness “to deliver Nigeria to a future defined by fast-evolving technologies, that will propel us towards guaranteed national security, economic boom, youth engagement, mass employment, high-quality education, and, of course, uncompromising national cohesion.”

The Star