Vice President Kashim Shettima took a celebratory swipe at former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, saying he would retire him from politics and buy him goats, broilers and layers to rear in Fombina.
Fombina is the earliest name for old Adamawa kingdom, depicting the agricultural ‘Southlands’ areas South of old Borno and Sokoto in present-day Adamawa and Taraba States.
Shettima, who addressed journalists as part of celebration of the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), reacted when a female journalist asked him if he would still fulfil the vow of retiring Atiku as he vowed during the campaign.
In answer to a question, which he later characterised as a joke, Vice President Shettima said: ”Atiku Abubakar is an elder statesman that I hold in very high esteem. And anybody who knows the socio-cultural interaction between the Fulanis and the Kanuris in the North will know that I have the liberty to haul all insults at him and he will bear.
”We are not going to retire him to Dubai or Morroco. I will retire him to Fombina, I will buy him goats, broilers and layers so that he can spend his days rearing goats and broilers.”
Atiku, who was Vice President between 1999 and 2007, ran against President Tinubu in the February 25 election in which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu winner.
Dissatisfied with the declaration, Atiku and some other rivals headed for the court, which struck out their petitions and upheld Tinubu’s election on Wednesday, after a 12-hour judgment.