The All Progressives Congress (APC) Vice Presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima, has said he will concentrate on fighting insecurity in the country if the ruling party is elected in next year’s presidential election.
Shettima, who was a panellist at the just concluded Annual General Conference (AGC) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Monday in Lagos, said he would personally lead the Nigerian military against criminals while his principal, Bola Tinubu, will oversee the economy.
“I have been in the theatre of conflicts for 18 years, I will lead the troops, my principal is an economy wizard who has transformed Lagos into the third largest economy in Africa. He will concentrate on the economy.
“By God’s grace, I will handle the security, and not only handle the security, I will lead the troops to battle across the length and breadth of this country,” he said.
Can the Vice president lead the troops?
Mr Shettima’s comment which has been interpreted to mean he will act as the commander-in-chief if elected vice president, a role which is the constitutional preserve of the President or the acting president, has left Nigerians on social media wondering if he will usurp the role of his principal, Tinubu.
According to Section 130(2) of the 1999 Constitution, the Nigerian president has the exclusive authority as the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces and not his deputy.
No section empowers a VP to lead a troop of any number or size.
Chukwunomso Ogbe, a political analyst and lawyer, noted that it is out of his place as a vice presidential candidate to aspire for the lofty right of a president.
He argued that the former Borno governor can only do what he said if his principal, Tinubu, willingly passed such power down to him but not by his mere expression of passion to serve.
