Governor Shettima’s revelation

Last weekend, my boss, Kashim Shettima, Governor of Borno State made a revelation concerning his wife, Hajiya Nana Shettima. He spoke by way affirmation, in response to an award of honour presented to his beloved wife of 20 years standing, by the Sun Newspapers as being Nigeria’s Most Supportive First Lady in the year, 2015. […]

Last weekend, my boss, Kashim Shettima, Governor of Borno State made a revelation concerning his wife, Hajiya Nana Shettima. He spoke by way affirmation, in response to an award of honour presented to his beloved wife of 20 years standing, by the Sun Newspapers as being Nigeria’s Most Supportive First Lady in the year, 2015.
By the way, Shettima isn’t quite an enthusiast of awards. He has politely rejected many offers of Chieftaincy titles, Honourary doctorate degrees and awards from different sources. I think he gives positive considerations to anyone coming from media establishment for the obvious fact that the media is the mirror of the society and tell you when you go wrong or right.
So, back to that revelation made by the Governor.
He had on September 2, 2014, traveled to London with a technical team, to finalize negotiations on procurement of some capital intensive UK assembled Dando Super rigs, said to be best when it comes to drilling boreholes in dry areas like we have in some parts of Borno State.
I was shocked when Shettima called me from the UK just a day after his departure, and said he was returning to Abuja by 5am of Thursday, September 4, 2014 on board a British Airways and that he would go to his official lodge in Abuja, briefly see his family and then return to the airport to proceed to Maiduguri with a flight belonging to the Nigerian Air Force at about 11am. I was in Abuja when he called. He asked me some strange questions. “My brother” he started in his usual polite tone, “how many children have you now and how old are they?”  I told him three and their ages were, 6, 4 and an infant. He paused for a while and categorically told me not to prepare to follow him to Maiduguri that he needed me to stay back outside Maiduguri and be with my family. Then he told me he was going to do a statewide broadcast the next day, Friday, in Maiduguri and that the commissioner for Information and I, needed to make a draft for him. Normally, we draft his speeches and because the man is very good and knows what he wants for every situation, he returns our draft, butchering every page with red pens and we make final draft. Sometimes we disagree with what he changes but often times, I must admit, he makes very valuable amendments that are inspired by his research and very extensive reading of books and any printed material.
I became curious when the Governor said he was to do a broadcast which needed my official role while at the same time he had ruled me out of the trip back to my work.
As I was persuading him to travel with him, I noticed his face wasn’t normal. It was as if he was holding back tears but pretending to be okay. By the time he accepted that I was coming with him, he gave me conditions, “unless you are in my convoy, please don’t go anywhere apart from your house and office when we get to Maiduguri”. I heeded but still curious. As I was to later learn, I was particularly an enemy target because my face was regularly on TV and Newspapers bearing the Governor’s name. Political opponents hated me and so did some insurgents, who often called to threaten me for promoting the activities of what they referred to as a “Governor and Government of infidels”.  But I wasn’t really the issue as I came to later see. When we arrived Maiduguri, hundreds of persons where fleeing the city with their families and property on trucks. There was heightened fear that Boko Haram had concluded plans to enter and take over Maiduguri at any time that week. Boko Haram had taken over all the routes except the Kano-Damaturu road, at that time. The insurgents were advancing to Maiduguri from the five routes, plan was to box up the city and ensure no one escaped. Their primary target was to murderously takeover the Government House, Maiduguri, kill all occupants particularly the Governor and hoist their black and white flag. 
Now, you may ask, why did Governor Kashim Shettima choose to return to Maiduguri at that time whereas he was safely out Nigeria? While you ask that, I add another one, what was it that made him to be shedding tears after parting with his family to depart for Maiduguri, the day he returned, September 4.
I had gotten answer to the former question during his broadcast and his other activities but my own question was only answered last weekend when Shettima made the following revelation about his wife, Hajiya Nana Shettima.
Responding to a question, the Governor started by talking about the decision of his wife to travel to Chibok soon after the April 14, 2014 abduction of over 200 schoolgirls at Government Secondary School, Chibok.
“My wife’s decision to drive to Chibok by at that dreadful time when Boko Haram was planting land mines really surprised me. I went by road too under a frightful atmosphere. However, what shocked me more about Nana was in September, 2014. There was a point everyone thought Maiduguri, the seat of Government, was about being overrun by Boko Haram. I was out of Nigeria when that fear was so intense. Some people around me said I must not return to Borno but I made up my mind to come back, I believed it was better for me to be killed serving my people than for Maiduguri and two million internally displaced citizens to fall to Boko Haram with a coward Governor abroad.  I told my wife, I was ready to face death. I left her on Thursday, 4th September in Abuja, it was a highly emotional moment for both of us. I told her to stay back in Abuja so she could at least take care of our kids if anything happened to me. We parted I flew into Maiduguri. I did a state broadcast on Friday, September 5 and was moving round to raise the spirit of citizens. To my shock, my wife came into Maiduguri on Saturday, preparing to face whatever I was going to face. That is the extent of her support for me,” Governor Shettima revealed.
Gusau is Special Adviser on Communications and Strategy and spokesman to Governor Kashim Shettima. He wrote from Maiduguri.