By Ezeocha Nzeh
The ruling All Progressives Congress and opposition Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), were Thursday drawn in a war of words over allegations that the vice presidential candidate of the ruling APC, Kashim Shettima has links with the terrorist group, Boko Haram
Spokesperson of the PDP presidential Campiagn Council, Senator Dino Melaye had in a statement described DShettima, a former Governor of Borno state as a “grand commander of bandits”, the criminal elements unleashing terror across the country.
Senator Dino Melaye further alleged that Shettima was aiming at establishing an office for the Boko Haram terrorists at the presidential villa if the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu wins the election in 2023.
“Overwhelmed by the conviviality of a civil atmosphere, Kashim Shettima, the Grand Commander of bandits and the running mate of the Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress ( APC), who has gathered enough funds from his field soldiers to be so intoxicated as to engage in a verbal gibberish that is only permissible in Sambisa Forest.
“It was the same hallucination that made Shettima to have defined an illusory presidency where he would create an office for Boko Haram in the villa, with him in charge of the security of our precious Nigeria.
“The emergence of the garrulous, intemperate and indecorous Shettima is another manifestation of the failure of APC, which after weeks of shilly-shally to fill the slot of a running mate ultimately settled for a rustic jejune whose concept of a suit is the sartorial equivalence of Babanriga”.
The main opposition party in the country also called on Nigerians to critically assess the former Borno State governor and the ruling party before casting their votes in 2023.
According to the party, “in a decent country, Shettima ought to be in jail to pay for the blood of innocent citizens and the deprivation that lawful Nigerians have suffered from his private army.
“Nigerians must reject Shettima and his gang, because as Bob Marley sang, no one can free us but ourselves”. Melaye said
But former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, took a swipe at Melaye as he wasted no time to exenorate the former Borno governor and APC vice presidential candidate from allegation of being a terrorists’ commander.
Fani-Kayode described Senator Shettima as “a refined, decent and godly man, who simply want to help his nation and ensure we move forward as a people.”
But responding to the allegation through a statement Thursday in Abuja, Fani-Kayode said Melaye’s allegation against Shettima had been investigated over and over again and nothing was found against the APC Vice presidential candidate.
The former Minister said: “The allegation against Shetimma is absurd, it is designed to terrify the people and make them feel that APC is a party of terrorists and that our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a man that condones terrorism. Dino’s statement is a direct attack on our Vice Presidential candidate has no bases.
“This allegation has been investigated over and over again. All these while there has been no evidence adduced to suggest that it is true and actually its not true.
“Senator Kassim Shetimma is a refined, decent and godly man, who simply wants to help his nation and ensure we move forward as a people. If you look at his record in Borno State as a governor, before he went to serve as Senator, you will see what he did.
“That is not a legacy of a terrorist. What we have in Borno is a legacy of a great leader that is what Shetimma stands for. For anybody to try to smear his name this way, is a reflection of that person more than anything else. Not only was it a reflection of Melaye himself, it is also a reflection of the man (Atiku) he is speaking for.
“The truth is that Kassim Shetimma is 100 times a better man and we will prove that at the polls. We will defeat Atiku even in his local government area in Adamawa state by the grace of God.”
