The Vice President, Kashim Shettima, last week, stressed that his principal, President Bola Tinubu meant well for Nigeria’s north.
One other story from the Presidency was also reviewed for your reading delight.

1.Donning the laundryman hat

On June 26, Shettima said contrary to the views of some critics, Tinubu loved the north, and was not indifferent to the challenges of insecurity, and food security, bedeviling the region.

Speaking when he received a delegation from the Federal Government led by Femi Gbajabiamila, who were in Kano on a condolence visit, he had said: “…the President is a good man and with clean heart. He means well for Kano, for the North and the nation.”

Three days later, on June 29, Shettima fired back at those who made mockery of Tinubu’s misstep at Eagles Square, Abuja, during the democracy day celebration on June 12.

He was quoted as having said at a PEBEC Town Hall Meeting in Abuja, “When the President stumbled…It is not only disheartening and disenchanting, but stultifying and heartbreaking that some of our countrymen were celebrating.”

The Vice President’s seeming laundryman interventions may speak to desperate moves to fix certain perceived reputation management gaps observed in Tinubu’s unstable media team.

If that is not the case, then it could well be that Shettima has appointed himself ‘chief laundry officer’ to either impress his principal or occupy himself further, as his office may have had little tasks to deliver.

In the absence of both conjectures, Shettima’s remarks may have positioned the Vice President as a smart salesman determined to persuade the public about the values being delivered by the government and or the unappreciated worth of the country’s leadership.

Either way, Shettima gets commended for staying steadfast.

One other talking points

2. Ensuring cohesion among state governors

On June 27, President Tinubu encouraged state governors to work together to meet the needs of Nigerians.

“Our states must work together to deliver on the critical reforms required of us to meet the needs of our people. Time is humanity’s most precious asset. You can never have enough of it. It is getting late,” the president stated in Abuja.

Tinubu’s admonition, again, serves as a reminder of Nigeria’s fragile federal structure which has been bogged down by certain ill-defined relationships where the president is seen as a school headmaster dishing out instructions!

Until the needful is done by way of an honest conversation on the Nigerian project, the president may well be speaking to a bunch of greedy helmsmen whose driving goal is to corner state resources for private ends.

The critical question often asked, however, is does the centre hold better performance than the states? The answer may be blowing in the wind.

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