Vice President Kashim Shettima has stated that he will retire Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar to his village and buy livestock for him to grow.
Shettima stated this to reporters shortly after the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal confirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
After expressing his happiness with the Tribunal’s decision and urging his opponents to work with him, one of the reporters questioned him if he was still planning to retire Atiku – one of his campaign promises.
The former governor of Borno State said, “We have moved beyond the phase of politics. Now, we are in the phase of governance. Atiku Abubakar is an elder statesman whom I hold in very high esteem.
“Anybody who knows the socio-cultural interaction between the Fulanis and Kanuris in the north would know that I have the liberty to hurl all insults at him and he’d stoically bear.
“We are not going to retire Atiku to Dubai or Morocco. I’d retire him to Fombina. I’d buy him goats, broilers and layers so that he can spend his days rearing cows and broilers.
“On a more serious note, Atiku is an elder statesman. The nation needs him.
“Experience is not something that you can buy in the market. We’d tap into his wealth of experience and exposure to catapult the nation to a higher pedestal. Politics is over, governance is now important.”
In a marathon judgement on Wednesday, the five-member panel of judges dismissed petitions against Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 election.
The Tribunal threw out the petitions of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM); the petitions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar; as well as the petitions of the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) have rejected the verdict and said they would consult their lawyers to know the next line of action.