The Peoples Democratic Party has warned that Nigeria cannot afford to leave the running mate of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima, in charge of the nation’s security owing to its antecedents.
The PDP Head of Digital, Anthony Ehilebo, said this when he appeared on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, on Sunday.
Shettima, one of the panellists at the just-concluded National Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, had said he would oversee security while his principal, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, will oversee the economy if elected.
Ehilebo said, “How come you come to the NBA programme and announce on live TV that you will take care of security and your principal will handle the economy?
“Section 130(2) of the 1999 Constitution specifies that it is the role of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. And if he decides to delegate the power, it must be to the armed forces. But here we have a VP candidate telling the world he wants to be in charge of our security.
“This is the same man in charge when the issue of Chibok Girls happened. Shettima ignored the directive to move the students and the terrorists took advantage.
“It is also a fact that a suspected terrorist, Kabiru Sokoto, was arrested in the Governor’s Lodge by the DSS. Today, we have not been able to dissociate him from all that. Unfortunately, Nigerians are more interested in his sneakers and what he wore to the NBA than his statement.”
But defending Shettima on the same programme, a political economist and member of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Ayo Oyalowo, disclosed that Shettima’s speech was blown out of context.
