Shettima urges northern youths not to vote Atiku for refusing to support Sharia

Kashim Shettima, the running mate to Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, has urged northerners not to vote for an opposition who refused to support the enactment of Sharia across the region.

Shettima told the APC faithful, according to The Peoples Gazette report, to reject the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, for fighting against the Islamization of the northern region.

The Gazette quotes Shettima as saying, "This person you call your own says you should not call him 'Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, but rather, Atiku Abuabar'.

He continued in a local language, "Your person says he is the only person that fights against Sharia in the North. Is that your person?"

In January 2012, a high-ranking member of the Boko Haram terrorist, Kabiru Sokoto, was found at the Borno State Governor's lodge in Asokoro, Abuja.

Mr Sokoto was the only major suspect arrested for his involvement in the deadly attacks orchestrated by Boko Haram.

At the time, Mr Shettima was the serving Governor of Borno State. However, he denied involvement without explaining how a wanted terrorist had accommodation in his private lodge.

Instead, the governor argued that Mr Sokoto was in his lodge to harm him.

"We have succeeded in arresting six high-profile members of Boko Haram in a raid on their hideout following useful information provided us by some residents," a commander of the security forces in the city, Victor Ebhaleme, told the AFP news agency.

In July 2022, after Mr Shetimma was picked as Mr Tinubu's running mate, a photo of him eating with Kabiru Sokoto surfaced on the internet, refuelling the speculation that he played a role in Boko Haram ranks.

The picture, first released in 2017, showed Mr Shettima on a mat with four other boys, including Kabiru Sokoto, the suspected terrorist found at the governor's lodge after the country's security agencies declared him wanted in his involvement in several attacks.

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