Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima is set to offer Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last elections a retirement plan to a life with all the livestock he needs on a farm in Kombina.
Shettima’s remarks came during a briefing with journalists outside the court of appeal in Abuja, moments after the presidential election tribunal affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory.
“We have moved beyond the phase of politics. Now, we are in the phase of governance. Atiku Abubakar is an elder statesman that I hold in very high esteem,” Shettima said.
“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 it.
“We are not going to retire Atiku to Dubai or Morocco. I’d retire him to Kombina. 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.”
The five-member panel of the presidential election petition tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the suits filed by Abubakar and Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25 election.
The justices also declared Tinubu as duly elected president of the federal republic of Nigeria.