Kwiza Mbumbeh, Maiduguri
Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state; has said that the All Progressive Congress (APC) should not “underrate political opponents and naïve” of implementation of party manifestos and electioneering campaign activities. According to him; “The two mistakes must be avoided in the 2019 General elections in Borno state.” Shettima raised the alarm on Tuesday, while inaugurating members of the APC campaign council and committees at Government House, Maiduguri. He tasked the council and various committees on APC campaign activities across the state. “There are two mistakes we should never make,” he warned, stating that the first mistake will be to underestimate party opponents and be naïve of running the affairs of the people. He declared that he does not underrate opponents. Instead, the Governor said: “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 God would ordain it, the more they underestimate us, the more we succeed. And we succeed without being arrogant.” He noted that no one succeeds alone, adding that; “I overestimate them and that is why I start working well ahead of the forthcoming general elections. He urged the council and committee members to campaign vigorously and mobilize votes for President Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of APC. While pledging high votes for Buhari, he said: “Helping Buhari will not be limited to getting him high votes at polls. “It will also entail mobilizing and working legally to deny his opponents’ votes in the state. According to him, the second mistake is for anyone to nurse the intention of working against an APC candidate in anyway. He said that as stakeholders, your political reputation will lie with your collaborative effort to win all elections in the state. Citing People’s Democratic Party (PDP), he said: “Loosing elections in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC), Chibok, Hawul, Askira Uba, Biu councils or anywhere to PDP will only make Stakeholders from these Local Government Areas to lose the legitimacy of bargaining for any political privileges within the APC in Borno. “You should always bear in mind that electorates are not robots that you tell to vote APC in one ballot paper and vote PDP in another ballot paper.” Anti-party activities, according to him, are never hidden with unpredictable outcomes. He asked the council members that if APC works against any of our candidates and yet he or she wins? He said 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,” he counselled, adding that his warnings was not based on particular realities, but on hypothetical possibilities with Borno democratic experiences. He urged members of the APC electioneering council and committees to bury whatever grievances they have and work together. He noted that there are some candidates who were angered in 2015 after losing out at the polls, but today, they are flag bearers of APC. He said the party is a vehicle on a journey with all members and stakeholders on board. “When a vehicle is moving with you, it will be suicidal to remove any part of that vehicle otherwise everyone will crash,” he warned, adding that the person that removes the vehicle part could be the first casualty. Shettima appealed to aggrieved members of the party to reflect on the tragic incident of Ramat Square shade collapse and forgive one another. His words: “I think the tragic incident at Ramat Square last week should send a message to all of us. I am aware that a number of us have various degrees of grievances. Some complain about failed ambitions, appointments and award of contracts by state government. “Some of those who have been elected or appointed even complain about the offices they occupy or certain expectations they had. Yet, there we had party supporters not known to most of us. “They simply were ardent supporters of our party. We invited them. They came and they died supporting our party. We didn’t even know them before they died for APC.” He said that singular incident, should make the people to be grateful to God in serving the people and earn their living. He said that the party leaders should double their efforts to help fellow citizens that they come across. “We must make it our duty to help our party supporters especially those at lower levels,” he said. According to him, some of these people sacrifice their lives in support of the party like the Ramat shade collapse. “Every member of the campaign council should regard his or herself as a marketer that is out to sell political brands,” he said, adding that the brands are candidates for the 2019 Presidential, Governorship, National and State Assembly elections in Borno.
