Shettima Denies Saying Tinubu Will Emulate Abacha’s ‘Hospitality’

By Adadainfo

Kashim Shettima, vice-presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 general election, Friday, denied attributing hospitality to former Nigeria’s military dictator, Sani Abacha.

Shettima, former governor of Borno State, was earlier quoted to have said, “We need a leader with a vision and sense of responsibility and commitment, and somebody who understands the nation like an Abdulsalami Abubakar and in our systemic circumstances, we need a leader with a dose of the hospitality of a Sani Abacha.”

He debunked the statement via his Twitter handle following the trending of the attribution. He claimed he was misquoted, and urged ‘curious’ readers to interrogate the video where he made the remarks. He also attributed the distortion of his remarks to political reasons.

According to him, “I never attributed hospitality to Abacha in my speech. I did a rundown of our past presidents and played up ‘the taciturnity and a dose of ruthlessness of a Sani Abacha’ to show we need strongmen to deal with the nonstate actors who’ve turned Nigeria into a vast killing-field.

“I was quick to tease the audience, appreciating the humour hovering around the hall, with the familiar jibe that nice men don’t make good leaders.

“By nice men, I meant those who get easily manipulated and pressured to divert state resources to appeal to private expectations.

“The obsession with distorting one’s views to settle partisan scores brings to mind a certain WBC Commentary. ‘The trouble with deliberate bias’, it says, ‘is that it cannot be erased by sound education’. The video of my speech in Lagos is out there for those sincerely curious.”