VICE President Kashim Shettima has claimed that he was the “most demonised” individual during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking at the launch of former Attorney General Mohammed Adoke’s memoir “OPL 245: Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Nigerian Oil Block in Abuja today, Shettima recounted how Adoke played a crucial role in preventing Jonathan from ousting him as Borno State governor.
According to Shettima, Jonathan had considered removing him from office during the height of the Boko Haram insurgency.
However, Adoke advised the former president that he lacked the constitutional authority to remove an elected official, not even a councillor—let alone a sitting governor.
Shettima governed Borno State from May 2011 to May 2019, a period marked by severe insurgency in the northeast.
On December 31, 2011, Jonathan declared a state of emergency in parts of Borno and Plateau states, and by May 14, 2013, he extended the emergency declaration to cover the entire states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa. Despite these measures, no sitting governor was suspended.
Ironically, on March 18, 2025, President Bola Tinubu—under whom Shettima now serves—declared a state of emergency in Rivers State amid ongoing political turmoil.
Tinubu suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and the entire House of Assembly for six months. Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas, a former naval chief, was appointed as the state’s administrator—a decision widely criticised by political observers.
Unlike Adoke, the current Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, defended the suspension of the elected officials in Rivers, arguing it was justified under the circumstances.