Nigeria’s Vice President, Sen Kashim Shettima, has opened up on his plans for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, after he was defeated at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).
TORI reports that on Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu was declared the rightful winner of the 2023 electoral process.
The tribunal, while ruling on whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was right to return Tinubu as the duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast, held that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar did not successfully prove his petition seeking to remove Tinubu from office.
The petition filed by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, was also struck out by the tribunal.
Speaking to journalists after the PEPT judgement, Shettima mocked Atiku, saying they would not retire him to Dubia or Morocco but a place where he would be rearing animals.
The VP also acknowledged Atiku as an elder statesman whom he greatly respects because of his experience.
He further apologised to those he offended during and after the campaign, adding politics is a game of the smart, not emotions.
He said, “Atiku Abubakar is an elder statesman whom I hold in very high esteem. Anyone who knows the social-cultural interaction between the Kauris and Fulanis in the North will know that I have the liberty to call for something, and I will get it. We are not going to retire him to Dubai or Morocco. I will retire him to Kombina, I will buy him goats and broilers and layers so that he can spend his days rearing goats and broilers.
“He is an elder statesman, I respect so much because experience is not something you can buy in the market. Politics is over, and governance has begun. For those I have offended with my utterance, it is politics is a game of the smart, not emotions.”
