Vice President Kashim Shettima yesterday clarified that his recent allusion to six governors’ support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu only related to pre-presidential primary consultation in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The primary that threw up President Tinubu as candidate was conducted at the Eagle Square, Abuja, in June 2022.
The vice president said his remark was not intended to diminish the role of other northern governors in the president’s victory during the 2023 election.
Shettima said all APC governors in the North rallied behind Tinubu after his emergence as the presidential candidate, adding that they played important roles in the campaign that culminated in his victory.
The clarification followed media interpretations (The Nation not included), of the Vice President’s remarks in Ilorin on Wednesday during the turbaning of KwaraState Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq suggesting that only six northern governors supported President Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
Shettima said in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, the Office of the Vice President, that the remarks had been taken outside the specific political context in which they were made.
‘The Vice President’s reference to six northern governors who believed in and supported President Tinubu was specifically about political consultations and alignments preceding the APC presidential primary in June 2022.
‘It was not a comment on the position of northern APC governors, following President Tinubu’s emergence as the party’s candidate, nor was it intended to question their support during the 2023 presidential election’, the statement said.
According to the Vice President’s office, the political situation changed after President Tinubu became the candidate, with northern governors subsequently closing ranks behind the party’s flagbearer.
‘Following the presidential primary, APC governors in the North rallied around the party’s candidate and played important roles in the campaign and electoral efforts that culminated in President Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 general election,’ it added.
Shettima explained that President Tinubu’s emergence as the candidate became an important point of alignment within the party, with other governors subsequently rallying behind him.
He said the northern governors’ support for power shift ultimately became ‘the aligning moment across all political divides’ in the campaign for the presidency to move to the South.
Shettima stressed that he continued to hold northern governors and other APC leaders in high regard in recognition of their individual and collective contributions to President Tinubu’s victory.
‘VP Shettima holds the northern governors and other leaders of the APC in high regard and recognises their individual and collective contributions to the success of the party and the emergence of President Tinubu’, the statement added.
The Vice President lamented that his remarks had been interpreted as questioning the commitment of some northern APC governors to Tinubu’s presidential project.
‘The Vice President regrets any interpretation of his remarks that may have suggested otherwise and hopes this clarification places the comments in their proper context’, his office said.
Shettima acknowledged the role of the media in reporting activities of his office, urging them to give greater attention to context and accuracy as political activities intensify ahead of the 2027 general election.
He expressed appreciation to the media for its longstanding professionalism and constructive engagement with his office, while calling for continued accuracy in reporting public remarks as the country enters another political season.