He governed Borno for eight years and although the Boko Haram insurgents were most active and most brutal almost on a daily basis for the whole of the eight years, Shettima kept Borno knitted and resilient. Despite the inescapability of having to throw scarce resources around to provide a semblance of security in order to keep hope alive,
By Yakubu Ahmed-BK
There is a commonality of attributes and qualities between the two. In fact, since their paths crossed, they have remained glued to one another simply because they have realized, quite early, that they are birds of the same feather and will thus fly better together.
One thing about Kashim Shettima is that as soon as he made up his
mind on a co-traveler or a soul mate, there will be no going back at all. That was why despite his strong views from time to time about certain policies of the federal government, President Muhammadu Buhari neither took offense nor habor any ill feelings towards him. He knew that Kashim Shettima was one of the few men of conviction who had wished him well since the very day they met and associated.
It is the same mindset of following his heart and giving his all that resonated very well with Asiwaju Bala Ahmed Tinubu and the two men have been inseparable all through.
The APC presidential candidate in the 2023 elections is an unapologetic mentor, an identifier of brains and a scouter of egg heads. He has proved a capacity to gather the right work men and unleash them on the most intractable and daunting clogs in the wheel of the progress of any unit, a state or a country as the call to duty may bring forth.
When he became Governor of Lagos state in 1999, nobody gave him a dog’s chance to turn things around and make it the destination of captains of industry, technocrats, merchants, international economy shakers, artisans, white collar job seekers, commercial taxi drivers and all manner of strugglers who took advantage of the amenable environment to eke out a living.
He met Lagos generating between a monthly revenue of N500M and N600M. The policies, structures, the right managers and environment he evolved suddenly jacked it up to over N10B in a few years. We all knew how insecured Lagos was back then as nobody felt safe. He reworked its security architecture and it has been about the most secured and the most economically viable ever since.
As at today, the men he mentored and pushed up and who succeeded him have continued with the Asiwaju policies and the IGR has hit over N50B monthly intake.
Kashim Shettima too, a University teacher, a successful banker and an agricultural economist tended to follow suit with the way he was able to put up a team of men and women of high aptitude and capacity who helped to turn Borno into Nigeria’s most resilient and potentially economically viable state which has become a hub of unprecedented infrastructure development activity.
He governed Borno for eight years and although the Boko Haram insurgents were most active and most brutal almost on a daily basis for the whole of the eight years, Shettima kept Borno knitted and resilient. Despite the inescapability of having to throw scarce resources around to provide a semblance of security in order to keep hope alive, Kashim was adjudged to have achieved manifold what many states that were peaceful couldn’t even come near. No one that has visited Borno state while limbs were flying, street gun fights were the in-thing and suicide bombers were becoming more emboldened will have ever thought that the then Governor would come out alive. The man refused to negotiate with his legs to save his skin and instead of taking flight, he was always the first to be at suicide bombing or gun fighting scenes to direct rescue operations and provide emergency succor to the injured and the displaced and to arrange burial rites for those unfortunate to die in it.
He was forced by circumstances to become a soldier and all those who worked with him as Commissioners and other key lieutenants were forced to shade off what ever fear was left in them, adorned the toga of fighters too, to face whatever fate had reserved for them. In fact, it was during his time as Governor that the civilian Joint Task Force (C-JTF) was birthed and the fight was taken to the very enclave and hideouts of the insurgents. Every man or woman in Borno became a fearless fighter ready to, with just sticks, confront blood thirsty gun men.
He capped his sterling performance with the anointment of another fearless, highly educated and dogged Professor, who had served him as Commissioner of reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement in those days of mindless bloodletting. The selection of Professor Babagana Umara Zulum was deliberate because he was in the tick of it all through.
We can see that the combination of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President and Commander-In-Chief and Senator Kashim Shettima as Vice President will be about the most attractive, result-oriented, development driven and economically stable ticket the country has ever seen. They have the same faith in the workability of the country, it’s economic potentials, the strength in its diversity, its capacity to secure itself and the ability to evolve practical policies to make life better for all citizens.
This ticket, when it flies, will hit the ground running ta take this country to its promised land.
