By Musdapha Ilo, Maiduguri

Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima and his predecessor, Ali Modu Sheriff, have put aside personal interests and embraced peace in the interest of the success of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

In a reconciliatory meeting organised by a chieftain of the party, Kashim Imam, on Thursday, governor Shettima said it would not be fair for both of them to compound the problems of a state that has already suffered  greatly from crisis.

He said like every big family, the APC is bound to have problems from time to time, but noted that with forgiveness all hurts would be healed and rather than crack the party, the problems would help to build and make it stronger.

“This is indeed a watershed moment, a very momentous time in the history of Borno, we have had hiccups in the past but in the interest of our state and our people we have decided to bury the hatchet,” he said.

He added: “I must commend Mutawalli Kashim Imam for his efforts toward bringing this peace, he has had sleepless nights in order to achieve this.”

On his part, Sheriff who is one of the leaders of the party at the national level and also political godfather to Shettima, said in politics people agree to disagree and disagree to agree but one thing is important every member of the party must be carried along.

“It is true we have been meeting for the last three days and we have decided a lot. If APC as a political party loses one ward in Borno state I will be the number one loser. I have been building a political institution in the last ten years…We want to make sure that Borno is in peace and anyone that is aspiring for any position must have the same dream for the state,” he said.

The convener of the meeting, Imam said: “We cannot afford to have even a family squabble. We felt as responsible leaders we have to have a reconciliation and bury whatever tiny differences we may have had.”

The ward congress in Borno State, which was originally scheduled to hold last Saturday had been suspended several times because of political differences between Shettima and Sheriff.