Atiku demands apology from Shetimma for calling him ‘bottled water seller’

Nurudeen Shotayo 09:08 - 03 November 2022

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar

Atiku said Shetimma's remarks amount to denigration of many Nigerians who make their ends meet from bottled water business.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku, has demanded an unreserved apology from the vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kashim Shettima, over his latest comments.

What happened: Recall that the former Borno State Governor had stirred the hornet's nest while speaking at a town hall meeting with the business community organised by his principal and APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, November 1, 2022.

While throwing jibes at the former Vice President, Shetimma claimed selling bottled water doesn't make anyone a business expert - an apparent reference to Atiku's bottled water company believed to be the biggest in the Northeast.

The APC VP candidate also boasted that the former Vice President will be retired from politics and forced to relocate to Dubai after the 2023 presidential election.

Atiku fires back: Reacting to Shetimma's remarks, Atiku via a statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe, said it's shameful that the former Borno State Governor would vilify a business that employs a large chunk of people in the North-east.

The statement issued on Wednesday, November 2, 2022, also described the remarks directed at Atiku as not only irresponsible but also disrespective.

He also reminded the former Borno State Governor that politics “does not confer the licence to be reckless” on anyone, while asking him to apologise to Nigerians in the employ of Atiku.

The statement partly read: “Shettima should apologise to Nigerian workers, especially the thousands that benefit from Atiku’s businesses for his irresponsible statement.

“Politics does not confer on anyone the license to make irresponsible statements.

“A gathering of the top echelons of the private sector was supposed to be an avenue for laying out serious policy choices. For Tinubu and Shettima on the contrary, they chose to embarrass their guests, using their audience to play vile political games.

“For someone who self-appoints as the APC national leader, it is ridiculous that the presidential candidate of the APC failed to proffer solutions to the economic woes that his party has foisted on Nigerians in the past seven years.”