2027: Atiku is Nigeria’s Odinga, he can never win – Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima on Wednesday declared that former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, is a serial loser who can never clinch the exalted seat of the nation’s presidency.

Shettima took the swipe at the ADC presidential candidate in his remarks at the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council.

Shettima likened the ADC presidential candidate to a foremost opposition leader in Kenya, Raila Odinga, who sought the presidency of the East African country five times and lost.

The Vice President also took on the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, for always drawing comparisons between the Nigerian economy and those of Asian nations.

He challenged the NDC presidential candidate to offer practical, homegrown prescriptions to Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges and drop what he called simplistic international comparisons.

He said:“A country of over 250 million people cannot be governed through borrowed statistics and economic prescriptions detached from its peculiarities.”

In another breath, Shettima appealed to members of the APC PCC to avoid inflammatory or provocative remarks.

He called for campaigns that revolve around policies, ideas, leadership records and competing visions for national development.

He said: “For the rest of the duration of this campaign, we’ll discuss ideas, we’ll discuss policies, but we’ll treat all our opponents with respect and dignity. They are not our enemies. They are our brothers. They are our countrymen. They are our leaders.”

“We have the capacity to respond to all sorts of innuendos and outright lies that our political opponents are taking on. But we won’t fall into their traps. We’ll give them facts. We’ll give them statistics. We argue with reason, not with sentiments, not with exaggerated truth or fabricated lies.”