The Office of the Vice President has clarified remarks by Vice President Kashim Shettima about the support President Bola Tinubu received from northern governors during the build-up to the 2022 All Progressives Congress presidential primary.
The clarification was contained in a statement issued on Thursday, September 17, by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications in the Office of the Vice President.
Nkwocha said Shettima’s reference to six northern governors who “believed in and supported” Tinubu was specifically about political consultations and alliances formed before the APC presidential primary in June 2022.
The statement followed comments made by Shettima 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.
Speaking at the event, Shettima said only six of the 19 northern states had governors who supported Tinubu at the time.
“You all know that we have 19 states in the North. Out of these, only six actually believed and supported Tinubu.”
Shettima named former Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello and AbdulRazaq among the six governors but withheld the names of the others, explaining that he did not want to generate controversy.
The Vice President further said Tinubu later reconciled with governors who had backed other candidates during the 2023 presidential contest.
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“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,” Shettima said.
However, Nkwocha stressed that the Vice President’s comments about the six governors referred only to the period preceding the APC primary and should not be taken to mean that northern APC governors failed to support Tinubu after he secured the party’s ticket.
“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,” the statement said.
He explained that the situation changed after the primary, with APC governors across the North supporting Tinubu’s campaign ahead of the 2023 general 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,” he said.
The Vice President’s office said Shettima recognised the contributions of the northern governors and other APC leaders to the party and Tinubu’s emergence as its presidential candidate.
According to the statement, Shettima holds the governors in high regard and acknowledges both their individual and collective roles in the party’s political success.
Nkwocha added that the Vice President regretted any interpretation of his remarks that suggested otherwise, stressing that the clarification was issued to place his comments in their proper political context.