Ali Modu Sheriff: most corrupt governor says successor

Former Governor of Borno state, Ali Modu Sheriff, has been described by his successor, Kashim Shettima as the most corrupt governor in Nigeria. Shettima also decribed Sheriff as one of the richest ex-governors in circulation.

Shettima spoke today, in a reaction to the allegation of fraud levelled against him by Sheriff.

But according to Shettima, Sheriff has no moral standing to tag him as a corrupt person.

Shettima in a statement signed by his media aide, Alhaji Isa Gusau, described the labelling an “irony, laughable and absurd.”

Shettima claimed that the ex-governor was practically broke before assuming office in 2003, but left “office as perhaps the richest man in Borno State and one of the richest former governors in the country.”

The governor’s spokesman was reacting to an allegation by the former governor in a press briefing in Maiduguri on Monday that Shettima was corrupt.

Gov. Kashim Shettima: blasts predecessor

Shettima said, “I think of all Nigerians that held public offices in the country, one man that should seal his lips whenever issues of corrupt practices are being discussed is former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff.

“Everybody knew he was broke before he became a governor in 2003. Today, he is practically the richest former Governor in Nigeria, who was reported by Thisday Newspaper in 2012, to have acquired a jet worth N11bn for his luxury and he was said to be the first African to have procured such a jet as an individual.

“This is a man that has never flown in a commercial flight in the last 10 or more years within Nigeria because he has fleets of jets he owns. This is someone that cannot survive outside the corridor of power from the days of military.

“It is really shocking that of all people, Sheriff can open his mouth to accuse any Nigerian of corruption, let alone a good and prudent man like Governor Kashim Shettima, who has won the hearts of so many with his numerous works for his people despite security challenges in Borno.”

*Originlly reported by PUNCh online