For the second time, the Vice Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Kashim Shettima, on Tuesday reinforced his perceived role as the Commander-in-Chief when he said that if elected in 2023, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government will end the Boko Haram/Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) insurgency within six months and one year.
He said during a town hall meeting between Tinubu and the business community in Lagos: “Within six months and one year, my leader (Tinubu) will mobilise the leadership to end this madness.”
Shettima had stirred controversy on his role as Commander-in-Chief when he said in August as a panelist at the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos that he would personally lead the Nigerian military against criminals while his principal, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will oversee the economy.
“I have been in the theatre of conflicts for 18 years, I will lead the troops, my principal is an economy wizard who has transformed Lagos into the third largest economy in Africa. He will concentrate on the economy.
“By God’s grace, I will handle the security, and not only handle the security, I will lead the troops to battle across the length and breadth of this country,” he said.
Meanwhile, the APC Presidential candidate, Tinubu said if elected in 2023, his administration will enlist more people in the Armed Forces, security services and the Police as part of measures to tackle insecurity.
He said his administration will continue the fight against insecurity by redefining the country’s counterinsurgency doctrine and practice.
“We shall enlist more people in the Armed Forces, security services and the Police. Our forces will be given better tactical communications, mobility as well as improved aerial and ground surveillance capacity.
“Through these and other measures, we shall better identify, monitor, track, and defeat these evil groups where they are. They shall have no respite until they surrender or are utterly defeated,” he added.
In 2021, Tinubu’s speech calling for the recruitment of 50 million youths into the armed forces during his 69th birthday colloquial generated controversy.
However his spokesperson, Tunde Rahman, said it was an “accidental verbal mistake,” disclosing that the former Lagos State governor meant 50,000 youths recruitment into the security architecture of the country.
