Mr Shema's decision to work against his party in his state was premised on honour, integrity, and public interest, Mr Oluwabusola said.
The media office of a former Governor of Katsina State, Shehu Shema, has said he worked against the presidential candidate of his party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the last presidential election because the latter and his campaign team considered him worthless
The head of the media team of the former Katsina governor, Olawale Oluwabusola, said this in an article celebrating the 66th birthday of Mr Shema on Wednesday, with a theme "Shema at 66: A Departure from Transactional Politics."
Mr Oluwabusola said the former governor who has laboured for the PDP since its inception and never worked against the party until 2023 when he campaigned for the ruling All Progressives Congress in his native Katsina State.
Mr Shema's decision to work against his party in his state was premised on honour, integrity, and public interest, Mr Oluwabusola said.
"During the 2023 PDP presidential campaign, the party's presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had relegated the former governor to the background during Atiku's campaign in Katsina, ignoring the fact that every politics is local.
"Mr Shema was also in Katsina before to make arrangements for the presidential political campaign, but he backed out when he saw the handwriting on the wall that his contributions to the party's success in Katsina were not considered to be vital.
"Former Vice President Atiku's rhetoric during the campaign was replete with the landmark achievements of the PDP during Shema's era as governor, including the campaign venue (Kankarda stadium), yet he refused to mention Mr Shema's name.
"Surprisingly, the same Atiku was fond of referring to PDP accomplishments between 1999 and 2007 as the achievements of the Obasanjo/Atiku administration.
"Is it not amusing that Mr Shema's name and photograph, the only living former PDP Governor of the state, were not included in the program of events for the PDP's Presidential campaign rally, held in Katsina on December 20, 2022? Deliberately, Atiku Abubakar, former National Chairman of the PDP Iyorchia Ayu, and the presidential campaign Council Director General, Aminu Tambuwal snubbed the former governor when their campaign train moved into Katsina State, Mr Oluwabusola said.
"It is on record that before and after the rally, none of them the (PDP campaign team) deemed it necessary to visit or put a call through to (Mr) Shema, an attitude that further confirmed the conspiracy against a man whose indelible record of performance was perceived to be a threat to APC's retention of power in Katsina State, he added.
Mr Oluwabusola said the decision of the former vice president to relegate Mr Shema in his campaign led to the abysmal performance of the party in both the presidential and governorship elections in Katsina State.
"If not for arrogance, how would a political party seeking a mandate to win elections in a state like Katsina, ignore a two-term governor of the State who performed creditably well on the platform of the party? In an election where every single vote counts, is it not living in delusion for anyone to think that (Mr) Shema would not command thousands of sympathy votes from his ardent supporters, mostly the rural dwellers?
"Before the above incident, (Mr) Shema, using his resources, opened a PDP presidential campaign office for Atiku in the centre of Katsina, the office was adjudged to be the best among the 2023 presidential candidates' campaign offices in the state. It is disappointing that neither the PDP leadership nor the party's presidential candidate acknowledged (Mr) Shema's notable contributions.
"(Mr) Shema was like a sheep amid wolves. The PDP leadership chose to celebrate the APC members who were regarded in the eyes of the electorate as 'APC nemesis and cankerworm, who were romancing with the PDP before they eventually decamped to APC, a move regarded by APC leadership as answered prayer.
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"Considering the above scenario and other details that will be a matter for another day, it is evident that (Mr) Shema, with the philosophy of public-oriented service and developmental politics, could no longer function amid political vultures, hence the decision to pitch his tent with the APC, without any condition attached to it.
"To say it loud and clear, it was Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and APC that (Mr) Shema worked for during the 2023 general elections. The outcome of the elections in Katsina State buttressed this fact. In an election the PDP expected to win its presidential election in the state in a landslide, Atiku only polled 489,045 votes while Tinubu got 482,283 with just a margin of 6,762.
"In the gubernatorial election, it was a landslide win for APC gubernatorial candidate Dikko Radda against PDP candidate Yakubu Lado. Dikko Radda got 859,892 votes, while Lado got 486, 620 votes, with a margin of 373,272. The margin was regarded as the highest in the 2023 gubernatorial election in Nigeria," Mr Oluwabusola said.
