2023: Tinubu healthier than me - Shettima

Kashim Shettima, the vice presidential candidate of Nigeria’s ruling party, APC, has stated that his principal, Bola Tinubu, is healthier than him, brushing aside concerns the party’s presidential candidate is not healthy enough to run the country.

Mr Shettima said this last week on a Facebook Live programme, Fashin Baki, hosted by public commentators, Bulama Bukarti, Nasir Zango, Abba Hikima, and Jaafar Jaafar.

The former Borno governor said he and Mr Tinubu are the best options for Nigerians in next month’s election.

Mr Shettima said their records as former governors showed they are credible candidates. Mr Shettima governed Borno State for eight years (2011 to 2019) while Mr Tinubu governed Lagos for eight years (1999 to 2007).

There have been concerns among Nigerians about Mr Tinubu’s health condition with many arguing that he regularly seeks medical treatment abroad, is not coherent with his speeches, and sometimes has shaky hands which some claim is a symptom of Parkinson’s.

Mr Shettima, however, said his principal is healthy enough to run Nigeria.

“Let me tell you clearly that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is hale and hearty. Politics aside, he is physically and mentally fit to be Nigerian president.

“Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is even healthier than me as I have diabetes and hypertension, which he has none. Even the early Parkinson’s disease people talked about is just lack of sleep,” Mr Shettima, 56, said on the Hausa programme.

He said the amount of work Mr Tinubu has had to do for the campaigns has denied him enough sleep, adding that once Mr Tinubu, 70, gets enough sleep, he will be physically and mentally okay.

“Leadership is not like unskilled labour of carrying bags of cement,” Mr Shettima added. “It’s more of a mental work than physical.”

He mentioned that former American Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Daniel Arap Moi of the US, Algeria, and Kenya respectively led their countries through economic prosperity while on wheelchairs.

“The most important thing is his records and intellectual faculty which I believe is sound enough to move Nigeria forward.”

The former Borno governor also spoke on the APC’s plan to revitalise Nigeria’s educational sector, agriculture, and youth development.

On continuity in governance, he said they will continue with President Muhammadu Buhari’s legacy saying the northern region will not be side-lined from developmental projects of the administration.

Mr Tinubu is one of the 18 candidates seeking to replace Mr Buhari as president when the latter completes his second term in office on May 29, 2023.

Among the 18, Mr Tinubu and three others are considered major contenders. The three others are Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP.

The presidential election will hold on February 25.