Presidency 2023: Chibok girls, Leah Sharibu, hunt Shettima, APC; create trust burden on Tinubu

Members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who of the Christian community in the 19 northern states at a meeting after the APC presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, announced former Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State as his running mate, expressed displeasure over the decision. They had expressed concerns in a statement by Prof Doknan DD Sheni, Chairman, and General Ishaya G Bauka, Secretary, that ‘the person picked might have had a hand in the Chibok girls incident and other terror activities.’ The Chibok girls kidnapping degenerated into the rise of the Bring Bak Our Girls Movement before the 2015 general elections. Leah Sharibu, who was said to be denied freedom by the Boko Haram terrorists because she refused to denounce her Christian belief when the federal government secured the freedom of some of the girls, has continued to sound very loud in the Chibok incident. The allegation of the northern Christian APC members was construed in the party to have reactivated the episode of the Chibok school girls kidnapped in Borno State by Boko Haram terrorists in the preparations for the 2015 presidential election. now hunting Senator Shettima, Tinubu’s running mate. Some party stakeholders had expressed concerns that the allegation of the northern APC members against the former Borno State governor, Shettima, may create burden of leadership trust on the party’s presidential candidate, Tinubu. Shettima was governor of Borno State at the time of the Chibok girls kidnap in the height of Boko Haram uprising in the northeast. Leah Sharibu has been a significant victim in the kidnap episode as her continued hostage by the Boko Haram terrorists was explained to be her resistance to renounce her Christian belief at the time the federal government celebrated the negotiation and release of over 100 of the kidnapped Chibok school girls from the terrorists custody.

The northern APC members of the Christian denominations, in the statement by Prof Doknan DD Sheni and General Ishaya G Bauka, vehemently protested the Muslim-Muslim joint ticket in the APC, cautioning that the decision threatens the unity of Nigeria, adding that ‘without unity, it would be impossible to build’ [the nation].

They had declared: “The selection of a Muslim vice presidential candidate portrayed insensitivity to the Christians in the nation.

“The fear of the Christians in the North and the nation in general is that the APC party will be viewed as an Islamic party.

“More so, that we are apprehensive that the person picked might have had a hand in the Chibok girls saga and other terror activities.

“Muslim-Muslim ticket would undermine the election chances of Christian candidates in APC in the various states in the North.

“The Christians in the North and the whole nation are highly aggravated
“Considering that the chairman of the party is a Muslim, deputy chairman north is a Muslim, the president of the senate is a Muslim, the speaker and deputy speaker are Muslims, and now both the presidential and vice-presidential candidates are Muslims and apart from this violating the constitution, section 14, subsection 3, if this was to be reversed that all these were Christians, can any Muslim in the North be able to sell the APC presidential tickets to any Muslim ummah?

“If this selection of a Muslim vice-presidential candidate is not changed, there will be serious and grave consequences.

“At this moment of national peril, what should be paramount in Nigeria is UNITY and not infrastructure or economy.”