Governor Kashim Shettima, on
Tuesday listed two mistakes he said leaders of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) in Borno State must not make ahead of the 2019 general election.
The Governor spoke when he
inaugurated at the Government House, Maiduguri, the APC campaign council and
different committees tasked with various activities.
He said: “There are two mistakes
we should never make. The first mistake will be to underestimate our opponents
in any party. There are those who assume that I, Kashim Shettima underrates
opponents. They say so because they don’t know me well enough.
“I do not underrate opponents.
What I do is to foresee opponents and neutralize them long before the contest.
There were those who thought I was being naive by the way we have been handling
things but as Allah would ordain it, the more they underestimate us, the more
we succeed, and we succeed without being arrogant.
“We recognize that no one
succeeds alone. So, I do not underrate opponents. In fact, I overestimate them
and that is why I start working well ahead.
“Ladies and gentlemen, even with
the immense popularity of President Buhari, I want us to campaign vigorously
and mobilize votes for him. I also want us to know, that helping Buhari will
not be limited to getting him serious votes. It will also entail mobilizing and
working legally to deny his opponents votes in the state.
“The second mistake we should
never make is for anyone to nurse the intention of working against an APC
candidate in anyway. As stake-holders you should bear in mind that, your
political reputation will lie with your collaborative effort to win all elections
within your area.
“For instance, loosing MMC,
Chibok, Hawul, Askira Uba, Biu or anywhere to PDP will only make stake-holders
from these local government areas to loose the legitimacy of bargaining for any
political privileges within the APC in Borno State.
“More over, you should always
bear in minds that electorates are not robots that you tell to vote APC in one
ballot paper and vote PDP in another ballot paper. From history, anti party
activities are never hidden and they have unpredictable outcomes.
“And I think one question we
should wonder is what if we work against any of our candidates and yet he or
she wins? When you work against someone as he or she wins an election, it
automatically means that you are not relevant. I think it is wiser to help
someone you disagree with to win the election so that at least, you have
something to boast before such person.
“I have sounded these notes of
caution not based on any particular realities but based on hypothetical
possibilities that are inherent in Borno’s democratic experiences. I urge all
of us to bury whatever grievances we have and work together. There are some
candidates who were angered in 2015 after losing out.
“Today, they are flag bearers of
our party. I urge us to work for each other. We should always remember that the
APC is a vehicle on a journey with all of us on board. When a vehicle is moving
with you, it will be suicidal to remove any part of that vehicle otherwise
everyone will crash. Perhaps the person who removes the part of the moving
vehicle, could be the first casualty. Allah Ya kiyaye!” The Governor said.
However, the Governor sent
message of condolences to families over the collapse of an pavilion at Ramat
Square, during the APC Presidential and governorship campaign rally attended by
President Muhammadu Buhari in Maiduguri last week Monday.
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