Gov Shettima, Sheriff Reconcile Differences

The months of bickering and war of supremacy between Borno State governor, Alhaij Kashim Shettima, and his political godfather, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, may have come to a happy end yesterday in Maiduguri when the two All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders finally agreed to bury their hatchet and work together.

Sheriff and Shettima

The duo said they had decided to bury their differences having realised that it was not in the interest of the state.

The reconciliation, which will bring to an end the crisis that had already polarised the party into two major factions, was credited to the singular political sagacity brought to bear by Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim Imam, an APC chieftain.

The peace pact was signed in the house of Senator Ali Sheriff located behind Government House, Maiduguri, where Governor Kashim Shettima and all who matters in the Borno State APC  converged to witness what they described as “A watershed in the brief history of the party in the state”.

Governor Kashim Shettima, who made the first reconciliatory remark, said himself and his political godfather, Senator Sheriff, had decided to bury the hatchet and work together to ensure that the APC  remained the ruling party in the state.

“This is a watershed moment for us; a momentous event in the contemporary history of politics in our dear state.  We have had some hiccups in the past and we have resolved as a family to bury the hatchet as a family, to face the challenges ahead. APC is a great family which like any other big family, problems like these are inevitable.  All is now over. We have reasoned as matured minds that in this time and age we cannot afford to engage in an endless war of attrition. We have resolved as a team in line with party rules to go for consensus candidates, in the event of no consensus, we then go for election. We have buried our differences in the interest of our people and security challenges of our state.  This is the last that the world will hear from us here in Borno on the issue of intra-party squabbles”.

Shettima paid special tribute to Alhaji Kashim Imam whom he said had “Worked tirelessly to restore peace”.

Senator Ali Sheriff, who spoke last, blamed the entire conflict between himself and Shettima on fifth columnists whom he said are doing so just to eke out selfish gains and destroy the party. He denied allegations that he was trying to deny Shettima a second term or bring in a candidate that will deny Shettima another term.

He said, “It is true that we have been meeting in the last three days. We have talked a lot. The truth is that if APC, as a political party, loses a unit in Borno State today, I will be the number one loser because I know what it took me to build the then ruling party, ANPP, which is one of the major coalescing parties that formed the ruling APC in Borno State.”

Gov Shettima, Sheriff Reconcile Differences