FACT-CHECK: Did Shettima Say North Does Not Support Him Because He is Kanuri?

CLAIM: The Peoples Gazette reported that the vice-presidential candidate for the All Progressive Congress, APC, Kashim Shettima has said that the Northern part of the country is not supporting him because of his tribe—Kanuri.

FULL-TEXT:The report reads: “Vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kashim Shettima, has alleged that Northerners were reluctant to support him because of his Kanuri ethnic heritage.

“… During a visit to the Emir of Daura in Katsina, the running mate to Bola Tinubu said that northerners in states with predominant Hausa and Fulani people were refusing to back him.

“Speaking in Hausa and in reference to Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Shettima said, “Ours is ours, but our man who does not benefit us cannot be considered as our own.”

VERIFICATION: Using the Facebook search bar, PRNigeria traced the original video wherein Shettima spoke at the palace of the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Faruk Umar Faruk, in Hausa.

For fair interpretation of language, PRNigeria tasked one of its Hausa journalists to translate the video into English.

The translated version reads: “We are calling on people, especially the people of Katsina and Borno, and certainly the people of Daura. “It will be inconceivable (as Northerner) if we betray Buhari and the country by failing to vote for APC Candidate (Tinubu). It is said that yours is yours. Indeed, yours is yours, but yours who knows that you are his should be yours. Yours that only cares about his pocket is not yours. Water that beats you is water.

“…Kashim Shettima is a Kanuri and only has two states. But from my understanding, there is no difference between Kanuri, Fulani, and Hausa because our religion and origin are the same. President Buhari is a Fulani but his mother is Kanuri. Mamman Daura—Malam Daura is originally Kanuri, including Umaru Musa Yar’adua. I have a Fulani bloodline.”

PRNigeria carefully read the translated version of the video without coming across where the former Governor stated that the Northern region is not supporting him because he is Kanuri.

Similarly, a professor of Journalism and Emerging Media at Kennesaw State University, Farooq Kperogi, USA, published that Shettima did not say North is not supporting him because he is Kanuri.

CONCLUSION: Based on the facts gathered by PRNigeria, the claim that Shettima says North is not supporting him because he is Kanuri is MISLEADING.

PRNigeria therefore concludes that the claim is FALSE.

By PRNigeria