Vice President Kashim Shettima has fired back at Labour Party’s 2023 vice-presidential candidate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, over comments suggesting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had “tried” by retaining Shettima as Vice President.
Baba-Ahmed made the controversial remarks during a live appearance on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Thursday.
He implied that President Tinubu had gone out of his way to keep Shettima as vice president, adding that what he knew about Shettima could not be disclosed publicly.
“On Shettima, I don’t blame Tinubu. Because whoever knows what Shettima did and does, will not allow him last this long,” Baba-Ahmed said.
“The airwaves cannot carry it. And I know I’m speaking on TV. I know Tinubu has tried for keeping Shettima this long. Even the consideration that he should be dropped, I think Tinubu has tried. It is a pregnant statement. I wish I could say more. What people do for power is unbelievable.”
Reacting on Friday, Shettima’s office issued a statement through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, describing Datti’s comments as “frustrated” and “baseless.”
“Baba-Ahmed expressed his frustrations on why the President had yet to remove the Vice President from office for not a single reason or offence he evidently linked him with, but merely to soothe his ego and wish. Well, the bad news for him is that his frustration is just beginning.”
Nkwocha accused Baba-Ahmed of making “unprovoked attacks” against Shettima while offering no evidence to justify his claims.
The statement continued:“We would have allowed Datti’s vituperations to slide away… but on second thought, it is wise to reply and put him in his right place in history — especially since his graduation with a Poor Pass Degree (not even a Third Class!) from the University of Maiduguri.”
Nkwocha accused Baba-Ahmed of desperation, citing his 2011 removal from the Senate after a tribunal ruled that he benefited from electoral fraud.
“The real definition of political desperation and desire to capture power can only be situated in Datti’s political trajectory,” the statement said.
“Need I remind Datti Baba-Ahmed how he was removed from the Senate due to a court ruling after the Election Petition Tribunal in Kaduna discovered that the election was rigged in his favour?”
Defending the Vice President’s credentials, Nkwocha outlined Shettima’s public service record, from lecturer and banker to commissioner, governor, senator, and now Vice President.
“This Vice President landed at the Presidential Villa by the mercy of the Almighty God and through the destined hand and will of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu… He has never lost an election.”
Nkwocha added that Shettima has remained loyal to President Tinubu and has been instrumental in advancing the administration’s “Renewed Hope Agenda” at home and abroad.
“A major attribute of VP Shettima that cannot be contested is his loyalty to his boss… All President Tinubu sees in him is a loyal and dependable ally, administrative and political asset, intellectual powerhouse, and trustworthy cosmopolitan Nigerian.”
The Vice President’s office said that “Undue and unprovoked attacks like this would henceforth not go without a response from us… In seeking the Vice President’s fall, Datti must defer to the Almighty Allah, who gives power to whom He pleases.”
The development comes amid rumours that President Tinubu will replace Shettima with another Northerner for the 2027 presidential election.
