Vice President Kashim Shettima on Thursday took a swipe at former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, questioning his political strength in his home state of Adamawa.
Shettima, who spoke at the APC 2027 presidential campaign rally in Ekiti State, said Nigerians should judge a politician by his own record at home before trusting his promises.
Shettima said the fact that none of the five former governors of Adamawa is backing Atiku shows that he has no political base at home.
“When somebody wants to give you a cloth to wear, look at the one he is wearing,” Shettima said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Using Adamawa State as an example, the Vice President said Atiku has lost the support of all the leaders who have governed his state since the return of democracy in 1999.
“Let’s analyze Adamawa State, for instance. With all due respect to our former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, since the advent of the current democratic dispensation, we have had about five different governors in Adamawa, not a single one of them is standing with him.”
The Vice President, who said he would try to make a lot of noise at the rally, charged Ekiti people to reject opposition candidates who cannot win even in their own states.
He urged them to remain with the APC and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who, according to him, has the support of governors, leaders and the people across the country.
If you cannot control your own state, if you are not relevant in your home base, how can you tell others to elect you? And we know the performance of the ADC in the last election in Osun State. Politics is about grassroots control. Politics is a game of nerves, not of emotion.
“How about appealing to sentiment? What have you accomplished? What have you got to show to the people of Ekiti? What have you got to show to the people of Oshun, to the people of Kaduna, to the people of Sokoto, to the people of Tano, to the people of Delta, to the people of Bayezid, to the people of Rivas? Show to them what you have accomplished. And the best is for you to seek re-election. But here in Ekiti, I dare say that when we speak of roads, we know what they mean to you.
“And we know the cost of delayed journeys. Work has proceeded on the Akure-Ekiti road. Reconstruction has begun on the Itawure-Aromoko-Ekiti road.
“Other roads interventions from Aromoko and Itawure-Ekiti are all at different stages of completion. And because Ekiti is a land of professors, we must talk about education. In Ekiti, the Federal University of Technology and Environmental Sciences has been established.
In his speech ,the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, who presented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all APC candidates in Ekiti State to the people of the state, urged them to come out en masse and vote for the party.
Yilwatda said the party was in the state to present its candidates, starting from the President, down to the National Assembly and the State House of Assembly.
Yilwatda said President Tinubu has performed creditably in Ekiti State through numerous road and infrastructure projects.
He added that the APC government in Ekiti State has also done very well, noting that the governor was elected on the basis of performance, just like the President.
Oyebanji said the people have spoken, and presented to the President the candidates of the SDP, PDP and APM who contested the June 20 governorship election with him.
“All the three of them are now united with us in our party to ensure that we deliver Mr. President in January.”
Recalling the 2022 campaign, Oyebanji said President Tinubu came to Ekiti and asked the people for two things: to vote for him (Oyebanji) and to vote for Tinubu, promising to support him.
“You voted for me, you voted for the President. Your result was the first to be declared throughout the federation. And you did very well.”
He said on the basis of that support, Tinubu’s support for his administration has been unprecedented in the 30-year history of Ekiti State.
“Since the creation of Ekiti State, no President has been this good to Ekiti people. I stand to be corrected.
Also speaking, the Director-General of the campaign, Abdulaziz Yari, also called on Ekiti residents to deliver at least 800,000 votes for the President, representing about 90% of the state’s votes.
Yari said Tinubu had supported the state through investments in education, road construction, youth development and women’s empowerment, urging residents to reciprocate the gesture with their votes.