Career
As a Governor of Katsina State, he has been described as a "stingy governor" since he has refused to open the State's vault for Katsina politicians, a characteristic he shares with his predecessor, Yar'Adua. Shema was reelected for another four year term on 28 April 2011, running on the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform. He won 1,027,912 votes, followed by Bello Masari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) with 555,769 votes. The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate came third with 19,990 votes.