Former Aviation Minister and Director, New Media, All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Femi Fani-Kayode, has defended the former governor of Borno state and the Vice Presidential candidate of the APC, Senator Kashim Shettima over the allegation of being a mastermind of the terror gang, Boko Haram while he was Governor of the North East state.
Fani Kayode’s declaration was on the heels of a claim by Senator Dino Melaye, who had alleged that Shettima was aiming at establishing an office for the Boko Haram terrorists at the presidential villa if the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu wins the election in 2023.
Melaye, one of the spokespersons of People’s Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar had in a statement on Thursday dismissed Shettima as a misfit and said that in a decent country, Shettima “ought to be in jail to pay for the blood of innocent citizens and the deprivation that lawful Nigerians have suffered from his private army.”
But speaking with journalists, Fani Kayode described Senator Shettima as “a refined, decent and godly man, who simply wants to help his nation and ensure we move forward as a people.”
The former Aviation Minister said Melaye’s allegation against Shettima had been investigated over and over again and nothing was found against the APC Vice presidential candidate.
The former Minister said: “The allegation against Shetimma is absurd, it is designed to terrify the people and make them feel that APC is a party of terrorists and that our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a man that condones terrorism. Dino’s statement is a direct attack on our vice presidential candidate. It has no bases.
“This allegation has been investigated over and over again. All this while, there has been no evidence adduced to suggest that it is true and actually it is not true.
“Senator Kassim Shetimma is a refined, decent and godly man, who simply wants to help his nation and ensure we move forward as a people. If you look at his record in Borno State as a governor, before he went to serve as Senator, you will see what he did.
“If you look at his successor in office – Prof. Baba Gana Zulum, he too is doing a great job in Borno. That is not a legacy of a terrorist. What we have in Borno is a legacy of a great leader, that is what Shetimma stands for. For anybody to try to smear his name this way, is a reflection of that person more than anything else. Not only was it a reflection of Melaye himself, it is also a reflection of the man (Atiku) he is speaking for.
“The truth is that Kassim Shetimma is 100 times a better man and we will prove that at the polls. We will defeat Atiku even in his local government area in Adamawa state by the grace of God.”
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