2023: Why North-east should not vote for Atiku – Kashim Shettima

The vice-presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Kashim Shettima has said the North-east region of the country should not vote for the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, because the former vice-president neglected the region when he was in office.

Atiku was vice president from 1999 to 2007 during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

Mr Shettima and Atiku are from the North-east region.

Mr Shettima, a former Governor of Borno State, made the call at the APC rally in Potiskum in Yobe State during his party’s zonal rally on Tuesday. Mr Shettima said that the region should vote for him and his principal, Bola Tinubu.

“Vote for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC instead of wasting your votes on someone who does not care about you and the entire region.

“You cannot vote for someone that did eight years as Vice President without doing eight projects in his place. You cannot vote for someone that did eight years as Vice President without empowering eight people. Atiku does not empower people. He only cares about his business interest. Even the road to his village Ganye was constructed by the APC-led government of Mohammadu Buhari,” Mr Shettima said.

“Let me tell you this, Atiku does not care about people even his closest friends. Take, for instance, Abdullahi Nyako died in a rented house. Fariya died a frustrated man. There is no one close to Atiku like Baba Wuro Baramu but he was heavily indebted before he died. Is that the person you will have to support for president?,” Mr Shettima asked the crowd.

Mr Shettima his party will send Atiku to Dubai, where he claimed he prefers to stay.

He said if elected into office, Mr Tinubu will use the ecological funds to control the menace of erosion in the area.

“I urge you all to vote for APC because this is the party to beat. I promise you that as one of us, I will ensure that the ecological funds will be used to fight erosion in this area,” he disclosed.

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“The government of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will ensure that we make judicious use of the ecological funds to build and control the erosion problem in Potiskum.

“We will join hands with your governor to ensure that Yobe gets all that it deserves by the time we are elected into power. Don’t vote for anybody that does not know you. Don’t vote on the basis of your brother. It is better to support a brother that knows he is your brother than one that doesn’t care about you.

Don’t waste your votes, the senate president said,” Mr Shettima said.

During the event, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, called on the people to support the APC and vote for the candidate of the party in all elective positions.

He said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration fought the Boko Haram insurgency and recovered territories that were hitherto held by the insurgents.