Shetima doubles down unknowingly…

By Fred Chukwuelobe, fnipr

Ruling APC’s Vice-presidential candidate, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, has denied saying his principal, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will rule with “the hospitality of Abacha” if he wins

He was reported by the press as having said that “Tinubu possessed Abacha type of hospitality.”

When the statement was published, and negative reactions followed, typical of most of our political leaders, he said he “was misquoted”.

According to him, he talked about “Abacha’s ruthlessness and taciturnity”.

Weighing in on that, a popular author and physician, Dr. Ugo Egbujo, said Shettima’s clarification meant “Tinubu possesses Abacha’s ruthlessness”.

In case you care to know,
taciturn “implies a temperamental disinclination to speech and usually connotes unsociability.”

To me, therefore, Shettima simply doubled down instead of clarifying his published statement. He only disagreed with the words published and not what he meant.

Anybody who witnessed the regime of Gen. Sani Abacha will remember how ruthless he was and how he succeeded in silencing politicians to the extend that when he wanted to transmute into a civilian president, all the political parties chose him as their candidate. Politicians like late Mr. Fix It, Chief Tony Anenih, couldn’t stand Abacha.

To the MKO Abiola family, to Nigerians, to NADECO, to civil rights groups and to the boys in uniform, Shettima has just reminded us of the past we hate to remember.

Even Bola Tinubu himself won’t like this because he ran into exile when the goggled one came after pro-democracy elements to which Tinubu was one. It was Tinubu’s participation in that struggle that endeared him to many hearts.

For my friend, Ugo Egbujo, for Shettima to “brag that Tinubu and Abacha shared same sense of ruthlessness is to demonize Tinubu”. And I agree.

I think the Tinubu camp must be feeling uncomfortable right now with their vice-presidential candidate and his “Freudian Slips”.

If you ask me, they should ask him to stick to prepared speeches and refrain from speaking off the cuff with a face that looks like he’s going to war and not going for an election.

Unless this election is war to him.