By Omolade Adegbuyi
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not against the North, the Vice President, Kashim Shettima has said.
He spoke in Kano during the condolence visit of a team from the Presidency over the death of the VP’s in-law.
The Vice President’s statement is the highest level response to the debate indicating that the issue is truly being raised by the North.
In reality, while the word ‘North’ is often equated with the 19 states of the region, in practical terms.it refers to the interest of a few individuals mostly of the Fulani stock who traditionally find it difficult to conceive of power slipping away from their hands even if momentarily. Buhari, a Fulani left power in 2015 after eight years a maximum rule during which he appointed his kin men and women into the most strategic positions. Since 1960, the Fulani have produced the highest number of Presidents of Heads of State.
In Nigeria, ethnicity has always been manipulated by the ruling class for personal gains while millions of ethnic people they claim to represent wallop in misery.
Sources told Irohinoodua that the Fulani-North is worried for two reasons: Tinubu is likely to rule the country for eight years. If he does, the Presidency will return to the North but unlikely to return to Fulani. The source said the current VP is at the best advantage to replace Tinubu. If he rules for eight years, power would return to the South and that would mean for more than 16 years, the Fulani, small in population but smart in manipulative skill, may not return to power.
The source told Irohinoodua that this fear informed the recent visit of the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam El Rufai to former President Mohammadu Buhari. The three are Fulani.
Shettima, who is Kanuri from the North East said cited Tinubu’s appointment of the Ministers of Defence, Ministers of Police Affairs, Chief of Defence Staff and Chief of Air Staff as well as Ministers of Agriculture, all from the North to handle critical positions.
Shettima said: “Like I said, the President is a good man and with clean hearts. He means well for Kano, for the North and the Nation.
Shettima said Nigeria is facing insecurity across the country that needs a united and collective response.
He said ‘He is determined to address the challenges insecurity facing the entire nation. This is why the President deliberately picked the Ministers of Defence from the North, Chief of Defence Staff and Air Staff from the North, Ministers of Police Affairs from the North, and to address the co-challenges.’
He said President Tinubu deliberately picked the Ministers of Agriculture from the North. ‘So if anybody starts carrying stories that the President is indifferent to the North, facts do not lie. At the appropriate time, we will lay out the facts for people to see and make informed judgment. Having said that, this is not a forum for grandstanding.’
He said Tinubu means well for the nation while calling on all Nigerians to rally round him to salvage and make the country work.
“It is not a game of apportioning blames but a game of making Nigeria work, and if Nigeria works, Africa works,” he said.
On the situation in Kano he said “We have move beyond politics, we are now in the phase of governance. What bind us together supercedes whatever that divides us.
“PDP, NNPP, APC we are all one family. I remember, must of those who are in NNPP are founding members of APC and so also PDP, this clearly tells you that we are one big family who only believes in one party or the other, so we must work to make Nigeria great together, and together we will make it.”