Shettima Clarifies Remark on Six Northern Governors Who Supported Tinubu

The Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima has clarified his recent claim that only six of the 19 northern governors supported President Bola Tinubu’s presidential ambition, saying the remark referred specifically to political consultations before the 2022 All Progressives Congress primary.

Shettima’s office issued the clarification on Thursday, a day after the Vice President made the comment while speaking at the turbaning of Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as the Sardauna of Ilorin Emirate by the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari.

In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications in the Office of the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, the office said Shettima was referring to northern governors who supported Tinubu during the political consultations leading up to the APC presidential primary in June 2022.

“You all know that we have 19 states in the North. Out of these, only six actually believed and supported Tinubu,” Shettima had said during the event in Ilorin. He identified former Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello and AbdulRazaq as two of the six governors but declined to name the others.

Shettima also said Tinubu later reconciled with northern governors who had not supported his presidential bid, describing the President’s decision to forgive them after the 2023 election as an example of political reconciliation.

However, Nkwocha said the Vice President’s reference to the six governors “was strictly in the context of political consultations and alignments that took place before the APC presidential primary in June 2022.”

The clarification stressed that northern APC governors rallied behind Tinubu after he emerged as the party’s presidential candidate and contributed to the campaign that preceded his victory in the 2023 presidential election.

The Vice President’s office also said Shettima holds the northern governors and other APC leaders in high regard and recognises their individual and collective contributions to the party and Tinubu’s emergence as President.

Nkwocha said Shettima regretted any interpretation of his remarks that suggested otherwise, adding that the clarification was intended to place the Vice President’s comments in their proper political context.