A former Governor of Borno State, Kassim Shettima, has apologized to the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, over the “pains” his recent comments may have caused them.
Insisting his comments were not meant to denigrate the Vice President and Senate President, Shettima said his remarks were “merely to qualify them as non-threatening contenders” to Bola Tinubu, an APC presidential aspirant.
Featuring on Channels Television on Thursday, the former Borno State governor had said Osinbajo is a nice man cannot make a good leader rather selling ice cream and popcorn.
His remarks on the duo has generated issues in the media space since then but the former governor insisted that his remarks about Osinbajo and Lawan were overblown.
A statement by Shettima titled: “My Channels TV Interview Taken Out of Context” reads partly: “When I appeared on Channels TV last Thursday amidst the tension rippling through our political arena, it was to underline the promise Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidential bid held for those yet to establish the certainty of the hurdle ahead of the APC. I never set out to denigrate the personality of any aspirant, and definitely not that of my dear friends and allies.
“My assessments of Yemi Osinbajo, and the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, were well-intentioned.
“I never set out to subject them to ridicule but, rather, to stir up interest in the contrasting virtues of the cast of aspirants putting up a fight against my preferred aspirant, one most favoured and advantaged to guarantee APC’s victory in the forthcoming presidential election.
“The interpretations of my remarks on Osinbajo and Senator Lawan are, thus, being done literally and overblown. My words weren’t woven to portray them as unworthy aspirants, but merely to qualify them as non-threatening contenders.
“I, however, take full responsibility for my utterances and wish to appeal to our teeming supporters to neither take my words out of their metaphoric contexts nor interpret them as a measure and declaration of hostility towards my dear friends and allies.
“I, hereby, tender my unreserved apologies to the Vice President and the President of the Senate for the unintended pains my jibes might have caused them and their families and supporters.”
“I want this to be taken as an appeal to our supporters across all political camps to build bridges and mend fences as the actual journey is just about to begin.
“Victory, for the discerning, has always been the first lap of the race.
“Thank you for your understanding”. He added