Senator Kashim Shettima, Nigeria’s Vice President-elect, has been accused of secretly visiting Jos, the Plateau State capital, shortly after the presidential election.
While expressing disdain and contempt, the Middle Belt Youth Forum (MBYF) revealed that Shettima met with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Jos, allegedly to rig Saturday’s governorship election in favor of the APC.
Captain Brent Kane, the Acting National Coordinator of the MBYF, stated at a press conference on Tuesday that the forum would resist any attempt to rig the election.
Kane claimed that upon his arrival in Jos, Shettima went straight to the Izala Islamic Cleric in the state, Sheikh Yahaya Jingir, without paying any respect to the Gbong Gwom Jos, who is the chairman of the state Traditional Council.
He said:
This insult and denigration of our traditional institution reveals the desperation of APC to Isolate the indigenous people of Plateau from the political scheme of Nigeria and enthrone strangers as leaders over our people, which will never see the light of day.
All the governorship candidates in the state are proud sons of Middle Belt and cannot be denied whatever support and solidarity in their quest to govern the state.
Nevertheless, we state, without mincing words, that Plateau has an identity that is rooted in Christianity, which nobody can deny.