Vice President Kashim Shettima has strongly responded to recent remarks made by Labour Party’s 2023 vice-presidential candidate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, suggesting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had “tried” by keeping him in office.
During a Thursday appearance on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme, Baba-Ahmed made veiled insinuations about Shettima’s integrity, claiming that what he knew about the Vice President could not be disclosed on air.
“On Shettima, I don’t blame Tinubu. Because whoever knows what Shettima did and does will not allow him last this long. Even the consideration that he should be dropped, I think Tinubu has tried… What people do for power is unbelievable,” Baba-Ahmed said.
In a swift rebuttal issued on Friday, Shettima’s office, through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, condemned the statements as “frustrated,” “baseless,” and “unprovoked.”
Nkwocha said Baba-Ahmed’s comments stemmed from political bitterness, noting, “Baba-Ahmed expressed his frustrations on why the President had yet to remove the Vice President from office for not a single reason or offence he evidently linked him with, but merely to soothe his ego and wish. Well, the bad news for him is that his frustration is just beginning.”
The statement went further to criticise Baba-Ahmed’s academic and political record, referencing his removal from the Senate in 2011 over electoral irregularities.
Nkwocha also claimed Baba-Ahmed graduated with a “Poor Pass Degree” from the University of Maiduguri.
Defending the Vice President, Nkwocha highlighted Shettima’s trajectory from academia and banking to public service, including roles as commissioner, governor, senator, and now vice president.
“This Vice President landed at the Presidential Villa by the mercy of the Almighty God and through the destined hand and will of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He has never lost an election,” Nkwocha said.
He added that Shettima’s loyalty and competence had made him an indispensable figure in advancing the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, both locally and internationally.
“The President sees in him a loyal and dependable ally, administrative and political asset, intellectual powerhouse, and trustworthy cosmopolitan Nigerian,” the statement read.
Amid swirling rumours of a possible shake-up ahead of the 2027 elections, the Vice President’s office made it clear that any further “unprovoked attacks” would be met with a firm response.
“In seeking the Vice President’s fall, Datti must defer to the Almighty Allah, who gives power to whom He pleases,” Nkwocha stated.
