Vice President Kashim Shettima has clarified his controversial comment on the number of northern governors who supported President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Shettima’s office said his reference to six northern governors who believed in and supported Tinubu was strictly about political consultations and alignments before the All Progressives Congress presidential primary in June 2022.
The clarification followed criticism and questions over Shettima’s statement that only six of the 19 northern governors had supported Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
“The reference by the Vice President to six northern governors who ‘believed in and supported’ President Tinubu was strictly in the context of political consultations and alignments that took place before the APC presidential primary in June 2022.”
Shettima had made the remark on Wednesday at the palace of the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, during the turbaning of Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as the Sardauna of Ilorin Emirate.
According to the Vice President, only six of the 19 northern governors backed Tinubu during the period leading to the APC primary. He named AbdulRazaq and former Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello among them but declined to disclose the identities of the remaining four.
“You all know that we have 19 states in the North. Out of these, only six actually believed and supported Tinubu.”
Shettima, however, said the situation changed after Tinubu emerged as the APC candidate and won the 2023 presidential election.
He said Tinubu subsequently reconciled with governors who had not supported his bid during the party primary, describing the President’s gesture as a sign of good leadership.
“After the 2023 election, President Tinubu hugged and forgave all other northern governors that did not support him. That is a mark of a good leader.”
In the clarification issued on Thursday, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications in the Office of the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, stressed that Shettima was not suggesting that northern APC governors failed to support Tinubu after the primary.
Nkwocha said the governors rallied behind Tinubu once he became the party’s presidential candidate and contributed to the campaign that produced his victory in the 2023 election.
“After the primary, APC governors in the North rallied around the party’s candidate and played important roles in the campaign that culminated in President Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 general election.”
The Vice President’s office said Shettima holds the northern governors and other APC leaders in high regard and recognises their contributions to the party and Tinubu’s emergence as President.
Nkwocha added that Shettima regretted any interpretation of his remarks suggesting otherwise, insisting that the clarification was issued to place the Vice President’s comments in their proper political context.
“The clarification is intended to put the Vice President’s comments in their proper context.”
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