IT’S OFFICIAL: Tinubu names Shettima as running mate

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has unveiled Senator Kashim Shettima, a former governor of Borno State, as his running mate for the 2023 general election.

Tinubu made this known in an interactive session with reporters during a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina State on Sunday.

Governo Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State had on Saturday revealed that Tinubu had settled for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

Tinubu earlier chose Ibrahim Kabiru Masari, as placeholder for the vice-presidential slot.

Shettima is an outspoken Muslim politician from the Kanuri tribe from Borno State.

Shettima, the representative of Borno Central Senatorial District, was a former two-term Governor of Borno State.

He held sway as Governor of Borno State between 2011 and 2019.

He was born on September 2, 1966 in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to the family of Sir Kashim Ibrahim.

He is married to Nana Shettima and they have three children: two females and a male.

He speaks English and Hausa fluently.

According to Wikipedia: Shettima attended Lamisula Primary School in Maiduguri from 1972 to 1978; Government Community Secondary School, Biu in southern part of Borno State from 1978 to 1980; transferred to Government Science Secondary School, Potiskum (now in neighbouring Yobe State), where he completed his secondary education in 1983.

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He studied at the University of Maiduguri and earned a Degree (BSc) in Agricultural Economics in 1989.

He had his one-year compulsory membership of the National Youths Service Corps at the defunct Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative Bank, Calabar, capital of Cross River State, in South South, Nigeria from 1989 to 1990.

He obtained a Master’s degree (MSc) in Agricultural Economics in 1991 at the University of Ibadan in South West, Nigeria.

Shettima joined the University of Maiduguri as a Lecturer with the Department of Agricultural Economics and was in the academia from 1991 to 1993.

In 1993, he moved into the banking sector and was employed by the now defunct Commercial Bank of Africa Limited as head of accounts unit at the bank’s office in Ikeja, Lagos State, South West, Nigeria.

Shettima was there from 1993 to 1997.

In 1997, he crossed over to the African International Bank Limited as a Deputy Manager and rose to become a Manager in 2001.

In 2001, he moved to the Zenith Bank as head of its main branch in Maiduguri.

At Zenith Bank, he rose to Senior Manager/Branch Head; Assistant General Manager (AGM)/Zonal Head (North East) and Deputy General Manager/Zonal Head (North East) before he stepped out of the Zenith Bank as a General Manager in 2007 following his appointment as Commissioner for Finance in Borno State.

Shettima worked with the Commercial Bank of Africa as an Agricultural Economist at its Ikeja Office, Lagos State (1993-1997).

He then became a Deputy Manager, later Manager, at African International Bank Limited, Kaduna Branch (1997–2001), and was appointed Deputy Manager/Branch Head of Zenith Bank’s Maiduguri Office in 2001, becoming General Manager five years later.

In mid-2007, Shettima was appointed Commissioner, Borno State Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

Later he became Commissioner in the Ministries of Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs, Education, Agriculture and later Health under his predecessor as Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff.

From 2007 to 2011, he served as Commissioner in five Ministries.

In the January 2011 primaries of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Engineer Modu Fannami Gubio was selected as candidate for the governorship poll.

However, Gubio was later shot dead by gunmen, and Shettima was selected in a second primary in February 2011.

In the April 26, 2011 elections, Shettima won with 531,147 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Muhammed Goni, gained 450,140 votes.

He was Commissioner of Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs (2008), Education (2009), Agriculture and Natural Resources and finally to the Ministry of Health from where he contested the governorship in 2011, which he won on the platform of the now defunct ANPP.

He was inaugurated on May 29, 2011.

He won reelection in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress and was chosen as the Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, an umbrella body of Governors in the 19 States located in northern Nigeria.

As Governor of Borno State, he has efficiently managed challenges arising from the Boko Haram insurgency which he inherited in 2011.

With the approval of the National Security Adviser and the Nigerian Army in 2013, his government formalised the establishment of youth volunteers called the Civilian Joint Task Force.

The volunteers have played very significant role in supporting the military in ongoing fight against Boko Haram insurgents.

He approved salaries, kits and patrol vehicles for the civilian JTF, while at the same time giving so much support to the Nigerian Armed Forces.

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He leads in mobilisation of community-based intelligence gathering and the provision of hundreds of patrol vehicles and material logistics to the military in particular and to all other security agencies.

In September, 2014, Maiduguri, the seat of Government became very vulnerable to being occupied by insurgents.

The fear was so intense that notable residents relocated their families to Abuja.

However, amidst such fright, then Governor Shettima, who was out of the country for an official assignment, returned to Maiduguri in a show of courage and patriotism.

On his return, the former Governor mobilised residents towards rising up in defence of their ancestry.

Although Maiduguri didn’t fall, the insurgents succeeded in occupying 20 out of the 27 local government areas of the State before the Nigerian Armed Forces liberated them between 2015 and 2016.

Former Governor Shettima’s leadership credentials have attracted positive recognition within and outside Nigeria.

He emerged the 2014 Governor of the Year (Leadership Newspapers); Governor of the Year, 2015 (Nigeria Union of Journalists, national body); Governor of the Year, 2015 (NewsWatchTimes Newspapers); Governor of the Year, 2015 (Vanguard Newspapers); Governor of the Year, 2016 (Tell Magazine); 2017 Zik Prize for Leadership; Kaduna chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists Award for courage and exceptional leadership (2017); and FCT NUJ Merit Award for exceptional Leadership, 2017.

In February, 2019 he became the winner of the Borno Central Senatorial District election, replacing Senator Babakaka Bashir.

Borno Central Senatorial District comprises eight local government areas: Maiduguri, Jere, Konduga, Bama, Mafa, Dikwa, Ngala and Kala Balge.