The Presidency has debunked reports linking Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent remarks at a book launch to the ongoing political situation in Rivers State, describing such claims as gross misrepresentations and a deliberate distortion of context.
In a statement issued on Friday by Stanley Nkwocha, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), the Presidency expressed “stern concern” over what it called “sensational and irresponsible” media reports.
Vice President Shettima had spoken at the public presentation of the book “OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block” by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), held at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on Thursday, July 10. During his remarks, Shettima referenced a period under the Goodluck Jonathan administration when there were reported moves to remove him as governor of Borno State at the height of the Boko Haram insurgency.
However, some media outlets reportedly used the statement to draw parallels with the recent state of emergency declared in Rivers State and the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, allegedly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The Presidency firmly denied any connection between Shettima’s remarks and the Rivers situation.
“The Vice President’s comments were made within the specific context of acknowledging the author’s past professional conduct during his tenure as Attorney General,” the statement read. “His remarks were historical references…and constituted nothing more than an intellectual discourse on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution.”
It also clarified that President Tinubu had not removed Governor Fubara from office, but rather approved a constitutional suspension in line with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, amid widespread political unrest in the state. The statement highlighted that the suspension was ratified by a bipartisan majority in the National Assembly.
“The steep descent into chaos in Rivers State had reached…a constitutional threshold,” the statement said, citing threats to governance, violence, and attacks on national assets. “President Tinubu followed the constitutional process with honest precision.”
The Office of the Vice President warned against mischaracterising Shettima’s historical reflections as political commentary on current affairs.
“To interpret Senator Shettima’s observations as commentary on current affairs represents either willful misinterpretation or ignorance of constitutional discourse,” the statement said.
Reaffirming unity at the highest levels of government, the statement concluded: “Vice President Shettima stands shoulder to shoulder with President Tinubu in implementing these difficult but indispensable actions to safeguard our democracy.”
The Presidency urged media houses and political actors to “abandon the destructive practice of wrenching statements from their proper context to fabricate nonexistent conflicts.”
