January 26, (THEWILL) — Vice President Kashim Shetiima is in hot political news again, regarding his political future on the platform of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC. Backgrounded by the US religious framing of heightened attacks by terrorists in the country, some relevant stakeholders are calling on the party to drop the Muslim-Muslim ticket. Feeding that perception is the renewed, alleged political plot against the VP by politicians in his Northeast geo-political zone. Coming at a time political parties are preparing for intense political activities ahead of the 2027 general poll, tension is beginning to mount in the party over the position of the Vice President.
On January 20, 2025, the Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Hon Abdulkarim Lawan, openly expressed reservations over the absence of Vice President Kashim Shettima’s photo on a banner that has the photos of President Tinubu, APC governors and other stakeholders of the party in the North-East zone. The APC was holding its governors and stakeholder’s constitutional amendment committee and public hearing at the Borno State Hotel, Maiduguri on that day.
The banner that formed the background for the meeting carried the pictures of President Tinubu, the national chairman, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe state and their Gombe and Taraba counterparts, Governor Inuwa Yahaya and Governor Kefas Agbu, respectively. Even the picture of the national legal adviser of APC, Barr Murtala Aliyu Kankia, was part of the image. None of the governors were present, however, but the Speaker was upset by what he considered a deliberate omission, similar to what happened a year ago. That was in neighbouring Gombe State when a zonal stakeholders meeting was brought to a standstill over the omission of the VP’s name during the endorsement of the President as sole presidential candidate for the 2027 poll.
This recent omission has again raised fears about a likely replacement of the vice president over concerns of a continued muslim-muslim ticket for the 2027 election. “This is what triggered the protests at the party’s zonal meeting in Gombe last year,” Abdulkarim Lawan, Borno State House of Assembly Speaker, said at the meeting. He noted that the exclusion was painful because it happened in the VP’s home state, Borno.
“The Vice President is a party leader and most-revered son of the zone; yet his photo is absent on the banner showing the President and important personalities of the party.” The speaker’s observation was approved by members of the crowd at the event with applause. Reacting to Shettima’s missing photo, APC chieftains in the state, Dr Babakura Bukar, and Alhaji Ahmed Ashemi, reportedly said the action was not “an oversight, but a deliberate attempt to undermine the person of the Vice President.”
In a related development, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Youth Parliament warned that the rumour about President Tinubu replacing Shettima as his running mate ahead of the 2027 presidential election would destabilise the ruling party.
The APC youth group described the move as dangerous, divisive and capable of weakening the ruling party. The group said it had observed with concern the growing circulation of reports in sections of the media alleging that Tinubu is considering dropping Shettima in favour of a Northern Christian candidate, allegedly to address criticisms of the Muslim-Muslim ticket adopted during the 2023 elections.
Chairman of the APC Youth Parliament, Kabiru Garba Kobi, told journalists in Bauchi recently that the rumour was a deliberate attempt to sow discord within the APC and undermine both Tinubu and Shettima. Kobi said, “Any attempt to replace Senator Kashim Shettima will be a grave political error that could cost President Tinubu massive support in the North, particularly the North-East.”
Unconfirmed reports say Tinubu will likely replace Shettima with a Christian politician. The names of ex-House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, Defence Minister, Lt-Gen. Christopher Musa (retd) and the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, has come up.
A former spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed has also waded into the matter. Until recently a political adviser to the President, Office of the VP, Baba-Ahmed said he had heard about an external influence driving the narrative. He urged President Tibubu to formally address the matter as keeping silent was no longer golden.
“If there is no truth to the rumour, the President should have directly and personally told people to “stop this nonsense”,” he said, arguing that that “changing Shettima—a key Northern representative—could alienate crucial Northern voter bases that secured victory for the APC in 2023.” However, the APC has dismissed the rumours as “baseless and unfounded,” just as party officials noted that such a decision would require extensive consultation.
Joining voices with Baba-Ahmed, the North-Central All Progressives Congress Forum Forum has also rejected claims that foreign powers, including the United States and other Western countries, might pressure Nigeria to abandon the Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2027. “The Muslim-Muslim ticket gave us victory in 2023. Nigeria is an independent nation and nobody is going to dictate to us,” the Forum’s Chairman, Saleh Zazzaga, said,
.“There is serious danger in changing a winning ticket. We totally and unequivocally reject calls and plans to drop Vice President Kashim Shettima as President Bola Tinubu’s running mate in the next election,” he maintained, adding, “We sincerely advise President Bola Tinubu and the leaders of the party not to listen to such calls, because such a decision will turn out to be a grievous political miscalculation,” the forum stated.
“They do not want to see President Bola Tinubu re-elected. That is the only reason anybody with political knowledge would make such a request,” the statement said. The forum therefore advised the President against dropping Shettima in order to strengthen his chances in 2027, arguing that the plan would not significantly impact voting patterns. “If you check, you will notice that in 2023, most of their communities voted for Peter Obi of the Labour Party. “Now, if Peter Obi comes out again in 2027 on the platform of the ADC, what is the guarantee they will vote for Tinubu, even if he drops Shettima and replaces him with a Christian? That is not going to happen.
“What is likely is that Tinubu will lose support among core northerners, thereby reducing his votes and giving the advantage to Peter Obi. Basic political calculation shows that dropping Shettima makes no sense and is actually very dangerous.”
In her reaction to the development, Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, has warned the party of the dire implications of dropping the VP in the 2027 election. She said it would affect the party chances in the North. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara said it should be counted out of any report linking him to the story that he would replace Shettima as VP in 2027.
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