RANDOM MUSING ON KASHIM SHETTIMA @58

By: Inuwa Bwala

Kashim Shettima, the vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, wanted a low-key birthday anniversary, but it is like trying to cover a bushel with bare palms.
For a person of Shettimas fame, he can not avoid being celebrated; especially by people, whose lives he may have positively affected: and I am one of them.

When I saw the notice by his spokesman, I smiled to myself and said, “If the vice president does not want to be celebrated on his birthday, then let him stop being good to people”.

Many people may not have the financial capacity to place adverts in newspapers or run radio and television messages, neither are there cakes to cut nor champagne to pop, but definitely, many people will mark the date in their own different ways.
I am not surprised at what I have seen so far, coming from different people this morning alone.

Kashim Shettima is like the parabolical baobab tree: you I can only analyze the portion visible to you, while others view it from their own positions.
From whichever position one looks at him, one can not miss the fact that Kashim Shettima is richly endowed, intellectually, politically; perhaps economically, and has a rich religious background. He is always passionate, humble, statemanly, philanthropic, flamboyant in appearance, and an oratorial delight in speech.

I stand to be corrected, but I think Kashim Shettima is one of the most widely connected politicians north of the Niger today, which accounts for why so many people loath his emergence as the political oracle, in the region, so to say.
At 58, Kashim Shettima is a mite younger, by months, but we have come a long way since our paths crossed.
To those of us, who are his peers, his friends, his school mates and his subordinates, Kashim Shettima is a rendezvous of sorts, as he has the contacts of virtually everybody whose paths crossed his and he reaches out periodically, as a reminder that he has not grown above us, even as the Vice President.
It is therefore difficult for him to shut us out even as he clocks 58 because we have been innaundating him with telephone calls and messages since yesterday and he has been promptly responding.

Having worked under him, in the process of which we sometimes disagreed, I must confess that I am yet to meet a boss who regards me more as a friend and brother than as a subordinate. Even in his present capacity, he calls to inquire about ones welbeing. He leaves his doors wide open whenever one visits.
At 58, he has risen from a humble background to become a national icon and a mentor to so many people.

As I join fellow Nigerians to celebrate our dear Vice President, it is my hope that you continue to be blessed with good health, strength, and wisdom, in serving Nigeria.
Happy 58th Birthday to His Excellency the Vice President, of the Federal Repiblic if Nigeria, Distinguished Senator Kashim Shettima, GCON.

RANDOM MUSING ON KASHIM SHETTIMA @58