Following the emergence of his predecessor as the chairman of opposition PDP, Governor Shettima of Borno State has predicted the end of the party in Nigeria.
The Executive governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima has commented on the emergence of his predecessor and former boss, Ali Modu Sheriff as the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.
In a recent interview, ahead of his investiture as Vanguard’s Governor of the Year, 2015, the Agricultural Economists turned banker, and now politician said that Sheriff's emergence was the beginning of the annihilation of the opposition party.
When asked what his thoughts are concerning the emergence of his predecessor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the national chairman of the PDP and his vow to kick out the APC from power in 2019, Shettima said:
"His Excellency, Senator Ali Sheriff is my boss and is someone that I am eternally indebted to. I always tend to shy away from commenting on issues directly involving him. He is a very consummate politician who is presiding over a dead horse, and I am absolutely certain that he will see to the total annihilation of the PDP.
The PDP is an idea whose time has elapsed. The mind disturbing revelations about how funds meant to acquire weapons to prevent Boko Haram insurgents from their scales of murder, were siphoned is enough to erase the PDP from the minds of the party’s founding fathers, those who drafted it’s constitution and those who designed the party’s if they have conscience. I don’t see majority of good Nigerians ever accepting the PDP again except perhaps, a different political affiliation but certainly not PDP as it is known."
Asked to comment on the accusation of Sheriff by some people as having links with Boko Haram, Shettima said:
"Yes, that was a factor during the electioneering period, people were accusing him of having a hand in the Boko Haram madness. Though to the best of knowledge, I have to be very fair to him and we all worship the same God, I do not think that the Ali Sheriff I know has any direct affiliation with Boko Haram, he doesn’t have the guts to lead such a vicious armed group, I know what he can do and what he can’t.
As a Governor of Borno, he might have made some wrong decisions in managing the Boko Haram crisis when it started in 2009 or even in failing to stimulate the economy in a way that the insurgents wouldn’t have had a fertile ground to recruit people that joined them based on economic considerations. He was a powerful Governor, the economy was booming from 2003 when he came in, he was close to the Presidency and to all the business moguls in Nigeria, if he wanted he could have established one hundred industries to create jobs, he had no Boko Haram to stop him but whether he did what is right or not is left for the people of Borno to judge.
"Believe me, if he had invested in education and agriculture this kind of madness our people would have been sufficiently informed and empowered enough not to collect as little as N5,000 to work for insurgents. In terms of land mass, Borno is the second largest state in the Nigerian federation after Niger State. We are 14 times the size of Abia State, we are 20 times the size of Lagos, we are three times the size of Kano, Borno State is three times the size of the Southeast fused into one, and land is an important asset if well harnessed can provide jobs for millions of people, but unfortunately, the past leadership did not understand the dynamics and that really created the fertile ground for Boko Haram to thrive.
In Northern Nigeria as a whole, there is a direct correlation between the ethno-religious strive and the closure of the textile mills; between the closure of the tin mines in Jos and the ethno-religious conflicts on the plateau. Even this cattle rustling now has a direct correlation with the economic realities on the ground and the sooner we wake up to those challenges, the better for all of us."
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