Okowa Hits Shettima, Says It’s Absurd For VP To Take Charge Of Security

The vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ifeanyi Okowa, has hit out at his All Progressives Congress, APC, counterpart, Kashim Shettima, for declaring that he would be in charge of security if the APC gets elected into power.

In a video shared to newsmen on Wednesday, Okowa, who’s the Delta State Governor, carpeted Shettima for allegedly trying to delegitimise the role of the president and relegating the Presidential Candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, who the constitution has made the Commander-In-Chief if elected president.

Criticisms have continued to trail Shettima’s statement which took place during the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference last week in Lagos.

He had said, “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,” Shettima had said.

However, the1999 constitution of Nigeria in Section 130 (2) reads, “The President shall be the Head of State, the Chief Executive of the Federation and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation,” thus exclusively putting the power found in the exclusive list of the commander-in-chief on the president.

In a short video obtained by THE WHISTLER, Okowa, whose emergence as running mate to Atiku Abubakar is causing crisis in the PDP, said, “I don’t want to talk about their policies. If the vice-president will take charge of security, is he (the president) not going to preside over the security council at the federal level?

“I don’t understand that. Because there is a commander-in-chief. Is there a reversal in position?” he asked.

“He can offer advice. But I’ll find it absurd that he speaks about: ‘I’ll take charge of it’. Possibly they have agreed that he’s to be the commander-in-chief.”