It’s Heartbreaking Some People Celebrated Tinubu’s Fall On June 12- Vice President Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima has described as heartbreaking and disenchanting the way the tripping of President Bola Tinubu was recorded and celebrated on social media when he was trying to board the Land Rover Patrol Van at the Democracy Day Parade on June 12 at the Eagle Square.

Shettima said this in his remarks last week at a PEBEC Townhall Meeting held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.

The Vice President who veered off his prepared speech berated those who made a caricature of the President, saying “When the Presidents stumbled in the June 12 celebration. It is not only disheartening and disenchanting, but stultifying and heartbreaking that some of our countrymen were celebrating.  But I dare to put it to you that the hallmark of true leadership is not the ability to lift a bag of cement, but the capacity to come up with robust ideas to solve a nation’s problems. 

“We have never had it so good in terms of leadership. President Tinubu means well for the nation. And most importantly, he is inbuilt with the skills set to drive change and in this country.”

Shettima noted that “one of the greatest presidents of the United States with all his health challenges, was able to shepherd the American economy during the Great Depression and the Second World War, and because of the quality of his ideas, America became a superpower.”

He also alluded to the accident that confined Mua Kibaki to a wheelchair, saying that the unfavorable incident did not confine his (Kibaki’s) abilities to come up with robust solutions that made Kenya to record double digit growth during his stewardship. 

“I can tell you, with all sense of confidence that the president we have now is a man of ideas, who is robustly imbued with the capacity,” he said.

Stressing that leadership was about competence, Shettima lamented the sundry unfavorable remarks which dogged the june 12 incident at the Eagle Square.

He said “we’re not asking you not to question the eligibility of your president’s condition. But there is this mischievous fixation on the President’s health status. 

“We are not preparing for the Olympics but an institution that builds on the superiority of ideas.

“You excellencies, this is a man when he became the governor in 1999 of Lagos State in 1999. Lagos was a monstrosity, a huge slum. When you’re coming into Lagos through Maryland, there is even a statue that says this is Lagos, no one welcomes you to Lagos.

“But because of the quality of his leadership, ably assisted by the likes of the Minister of Finance, the monthly IGR of Lagos is now 61 billion naira per month.  

Lagos, as at last year, was the fifth largest economy in Africa, and projected to be the third largest economy by the end of the decade. 

“So, this is a man that we need to all rally around. We need to support.

“Yes, our economy is going through turbulence, but is it confined to Nigeria alone? 

Let’s talk about the global picture. Is any economy immune from the challenges of the times?

“So, I urge you to be fair to this poor man. There’s no doubt that every thriving economy draws life from the quality of reforms adopted to offer the people happiness, will translate their business ideas into formidable enterprises.

“These reforms must become ingrained in the fabric of our public institutions. By doing so, we pave the way for sustained progress and lasting impact that will outlive us all, creating a better Nigeria for our children and their children afterward,” he said.