Sen. Kashim Shettima Mustapha was born on Sept. 2, 1966, in Maiduguri, Borno to the family of Shettima Mustafa Kuttayibe.
He is married to Nana Shettima and they have three children.
Shettima attended Lamisula Primary School in Maiduguri from 1972 to 1978; Government Community Secondary School, Biu in southern Borno from 1978 to 1980 and was transferred to Government Science Secondary School, Potiskum, where he completed his secondary education in 1983.
He studied at the University of Maiduguri and obtained a Degree (BSc) in Agricultural Economics in 1989.
He did his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), at the defunct Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative Bank, Calabar, Cross River from 1989 to 1990.
He obtained a Master’s Degree (MSc) in Agricultural Economics in 1991 at the University of Ibadan.
Shettima joined the University of Maiduguri as a lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics from 1991 to 1993.
In 1993, he moved into the banking sector and was employed by (now defunct) Commercial Bank of Africa as head of accounts at the bank’s office in Ikeja, Lagos State from 1993 to 1997.
In 1997 he moved to the African International Bank Limited as a Deputy Manager and rose to become a Manager in 2001 before moving to the Zenith Bank as head of its main Maiduguri branch.
At the Zenith Bank he rose to Senior Manager/Branch Head; Assistant General Manager (AGM)/Zonal Head (North-East), and Deputy General Manager/Zonal Head (North-East) before he stepped out of the Zenith Bank as a General Manager in 2007 when he was appointed as Borno Commissioner for Finance by former Gov. Ali Modu-Sheriff.
Shettima was later moved to the Ministries of Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs, Education, Agriculture, and Health under Sherifthe f’s administration.
In February 2011, Shettima was elected as the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Borno Governorship candidate after Modu Fannami Gubio, the candidate was shot dead by gunmen.
On April 26, 2011, Shettima won the governorship election with 531,147 votes while the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mohammed Goni, placed second with 450,140 votes.
In February 2019, Shettima was elected as the Senator representing Borno Central at the National Assembly.
On July 10 Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, confirmed Shettima, as his running mate for the 2023 presidential poll on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform.