The Director-General of Tinubu Campaign Organisation, Kashim Shettima, has put a lie to insinuations that former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu would buckle under pressure to step down for any of the presidential aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Shettima disclosed this at the weekend, while appearing on “Politics Today” a political programme on Channels TV.
Tinubu and 22 other aspirants were screened by a committee set up for that purpose by the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of its National convention commencing on Monday.
Other aspirants similarly screened are Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, former Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajuiba, Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and former Senate President Ken Nnamani.
Shettima, a former Borno State governor and serving senator, averred that if President Muhammadu Buhari decides to pick a consensus candidate, it must be Tinubu.
He likened the other aspirants in the race to a lilliputian, describing Mr Tinubu as an “elephant.”
“An elephant cannot step down for a lilliputian,” Shettima stressed.
“If the President, who is a man of conscience, a God-fearing man should anoint a candidate, it has to be Bola Tinubu,” Shettima said, while responding to a question on the possibility of Buhari picking a successor.
He said the former Lagos State governor would contest against Buhari’s choice in the primary election of the APC holding from June 6 to 8.
Speaking on other contenders in the race, he stated that Vice President Osinbajo and the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, stood no chance against the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar.
Shettima described the VP as a nice man, adding that nice men do not make good leaders.
“Osinbajo is a good man. He is a nice man. But nice men don’t make a good leader. Nice men should be selling popcorn and ice cream.”
The former Borno State governor similarly spoke on the administrative capacity of the senate president and his national reach.
“I played a very prominent role in his (Lawan’s) emergence as the President of the Senate, against my own kinsman, Mohammed Ndume, but leadership goes beyond sentiment. He has spent 20 years in the senate. He has a PhD in Geography. He had a brief stint in academia before joining politics. Does he have the administrative skill set to rule a complex nation like ours? This is the million-dollar question.
“He cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with Atiku Abubakar. Lawan became a senator with 144,000 votes, I became a senator with votes that is two and half times what he garnered in Yobe.”
“Go to Ohiafia and ask of Ahmad Lawan, the first thing that will come to their mind is that of a tomato dealer from Maiduguri. Go to any other part of the south, does the name sell?” He clarified.
