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| His Excellency, Kashim Shettima Executive Governor of Borno State |
Shettima assumed office as the Governor of Borno State at a point in time when the State is facing the highest challenge of its existence.
Having inherited the hot seat from his predecessor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, the journey that eventually led Shettima to his present position was obviously rough.
The Boko Haram sect wanted their arch enemy, the State’s former Governor, Senator Ali Sheriff to vacate office along with his political party, the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP).
To demonstrate their resolve to stand on the way of whoever would dare attempt to run for the State’s governorship on the ANPP’s platform, the sect gruesomely assassinated the party’s first flag-bearer, Fannami Gubio before 2011 elections.
Undeterred, the party finally produced Shettima as its candidate having secured INEC’s extension of the deadline for the submission of candidates by political parties.
Thenceforth, the ANPP under intense opposition from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) undertook one of the most formidable campaigns in history of politics in Borno State which eventually produced Shettima as the winner of the election as announced by the INEC.
As expected, since assumption of office, he has set out with the battle of legitimatising his victory just as the PDP has vowed to quash his victory in the Election Tribunal on alleged massive rigging on the side of the ANPP.
While the Election Tribunal tries to figure out whether or not Shettima was duly elected and returned, the Governor has the responsibility of restoring Borno’s lost glory of peace and tranquility.
This is obviously challenging for the new Governor, unlike other Governors in the country that focus on delivering the dividends of democracy to their citizenry and planning for re-elections, his preoccupation at the moment is tackling security challenges at the expense of other considerations including his re-election.
Meanwhile, Shettima has demonstrated his ability in his capacity to bear the enormous burden of leadership by compensating victims of alleged brutal military reprisals in the Boko Haram crisis that has recently paralysed the State.
The tenacious Governor has taken several steps toward curbing Boko Haram attacks including the ban on the use of motorbikes which security intelligence deemed apt for matching the hit and run strategy of the Boko Haram sect.
However, he has been criticised by many crisis managers for not providing enough alternatives for the banned motorbikes for intra-city transportation causing untold hardship to the residents of Maiduguri Metropolis, a mistake which sparked off the mass exodus of people from the city.
As Shettima continues his sleepless nights strategising on how to restore peace to Borno State (Home of Peace), he must bear in mind that poor leadership in the forms of unemployment, poverty and corruption are responsible for the involvement of youths in restiveness.
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