Shettima denies fight with Sheriff, deputy

Category: News Published on Thursday, 21 February 2013 05:00 Written by Hamza Idris and Yahaya Ibrahim, Maiduguri

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state yesterday said there was no fight between him and his deputy, Zanna Umar Mustapha, or his predecessor, Ali Modu Sheriff.

Shettima said the clarification became necessary because of recent happenings in the state, insisting that even if he was going to contest for a second term in 2015, he will contest along with his current deputy.

The governor added that he will ever remain grateful to former governor, Sheriff, and described purported fight between them as fiction by some people.

He made the disclosure yesterday when political leaders from Southern Borno paid him a visit at the Government House in Maiduguri.

“The truth is that there is no rift between myself, my deputy and former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff. I laughed it off when I read on the pages of newspapers because there is nothing like that. I have to say this now in order to make it emphatically clear that there is no rift between us.

“Again, the three of us need not to even fight our political opponents not to talk of fighting ourselves. We are in the same political family,” he said.