Vice-President Kashim Shettima on Thursday disclosed that, but for the intervention of former House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and ex-Attorney General Mohammed Adoke, he would have been removed as Borno State governor by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Shettima, who governed Borno State from 2011 to 2019, spoke while recounting his experience under Jonathan’s administration during the public presentation of Adoke’s book, OPL 245: Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Nigeria Oil Block.
Tensions between Jonathan and Shettima had worsened over rising insecurity in Borno State, especially following the April 2014 abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Chibok by Boko Haram. Shettima had regularly criticised Jonathan for failing to tackle the crisis, while aides of the former president accused him of complicity.
Speaking on Thursday, Shettima said he was the “most demonised” person in the country during Jonathan’s final four years in office.
“I was the public enemy number one,” he stated.
He recounted a private meeting involving top government officials where Jonathan allegedly considered removing him as governor. “In one of such conclaves, former President Goodluck Jonathan, with whom we have since reconciled, was mooting the idea of removing this Borno Governor,” Shettima said.
He credited Tambuwal, then Speaker of the House, for opposing the move. “Tambuwal told the President: ‘Your Excellency, you don’t have the powers to remove an elected councillor.’ But the President wasn’t convinced and raised it again at the Federal Executive Council.”
Shettima added that Adoke intervened by clarifying the legal position. “Mr Adoke told the President that he lacked the powers to remove a sitting governor, not even a councillor. Another SAN in the cabinet, Kabiru Turaki, concurred.”
“That was how the matter ended, and my relationship with Adoke and Tambuwal became sealed forever,” Shettima said.
He further praised Adoke’s courage, conviction, and willingness to forgive those who wronged him in public service.
The book OPL 245: Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Nigeria Oil Block focuses on the 2011 deal where Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni paid $1.3 billion to acquire Nigeria’s deep-water oil licence, believed to hold nine billion barrels of crude oil.
