Mohammed Oluwatimileyin Taoheed reports,
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Asiwaju Bola Ahmad Tinubu, the presidential flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) picked a running mate as reported by Track News Nigeria earlier. In this report, our Correspondent looks for some brisk facts about the running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima.
The former Governor of Borno State was chosen when Tinubu made it known during his session with journalists after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina State on Sunday.
Here are quick facts about Shettima:
1. Sen. Kashim Shettima was born in Maiduguri, Borno state to the family of Sir Kashim Ibrahim.
2. He is married to Nana Shettima, and they have three children: two females and a male.
3. He went to the University of Maiduguri, Borno State and earned a degree (BSc) in Agricultural Economics in 1989.
4. Shettima later to proceeded for a master’s degree (MSc) in Agricultural Economics in 1991 at the University of Ibadan.
5. He worked at the University of Maiduguri as a lecturer with the Department of Agricultural Economics and was in academia from 1991 to 1993.
6. Eventually, Mallam Shettima was in the financial sector (from 1997 to 2007) before coming into politics.
7. The Senator was appointed as Commissioner for Finance in Borno and the governor of Borno State for two terms (2011-2019) in 2007.
8. He emerged as the winner of the Borno Central Senatorial District election in February, 2019.
9. He was Commissioner of Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs (2008), Education (2009), Agriculture and Natural Resources and finally to the Ministry of Health from where he contested the Governorship in 2011 which he won under the platform of the now defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP and was inaugurated on May 29, 2011.
10. He won reelection in 2015 under the APC and was chosen as Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, an umbrella body of Governors in the 19 States located in northern Nigeria.
11. Shettima’s leadership credentials have attracted lucid recognition within and outside Nigeria. Governor Shettima was the 2014 winner of the Governor of the Year (Leadership Newspapers), Governor of the Year, 2015, (Nigeria Union of Journalists, national body);
12. Other awards include: Governor of the Year, 2015 (NewsWatchTimes Newspapers); Governor of the Year, 2015 (Vanguard Newspapers); Governor of the Year, 2016 (Tell Magazine); 2017 Zik Prize for Leadership; Kaduna NUJ Award for courage and exceptional leadership (2017), FCT NUJ Merit Award for exceptional Leadership, 2017.
