Vice President Kassim Shettima will still be President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s running mate in 2027, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has said.
The ruling party is reacting to the suggestion that the president is planning to dump Shettima for another Vice Presidential candidate, in accordance with the demand of some vested interests in the party, including some state governors elected on the platform of the party.
According to the APC National Vice Chairman (South-east) Dr Ijeoma Arodiogbu, the party is not contemplating shopping for another candidate to replace Shettima who he described as an “asset’ to the ruling party, saying the party’s opponents are just trying to cause unnecessary distraction.
He explained that President Tinubu and Shettima have a solid relationship despite the ongoing rumour of an existing feud between them, and the pressure on the president to shop for another candidate for his re-election.
Arodiogbu: “I’m hearing that for the first time. There’s a solid working relationship between President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima.
“Shettima is a key asset—intelligent, focused, and deeply involved in this administration. These rumours are likely just political noise meant to create division.”
Amid the ongoing rumour a northern advocacy group, Concerned Northern Ummah had recently called on President Tinubu to chose a christian as his running mate for the next presidential election, saying the president cannot afford to ignore the sacrifice made for him by Christians in the region for him to win in the 2023 election.
The group made this known in a statement signed by its convener, Bala Duguri.
The group said it arrived at the decision after “undertaken wider consultations across the northern states”adding that choosing a Christian as running mate to Tinubu will be in the spirit of fairness, equity, and justice.”
Duguri: “Our group has undertaken wider consultations across the northern states with different Islamic organisations in a bid to speak with one voice over the political direction in the APC-led administration. The outcome is very encouraging,” Duguri said.
“We have carefully considered the present situation of our country, coupled with deep concern for the well-being of our people, in the spirit of fairness, equity, and justice.
“The sacrifices made by our fellow Christian brothers and sisters in the 2023 presidential elections, in the spirit of unity and national progress, need to be acknowledged. It’s time for Muslim political actors to make similar sacrifices.
“As a Muslim organisation, we use this opportunity to call on all potential Muslim nominees for the vice presidential slot to make the necessary sacrifice by dropping their ambitions for the good of the country.
“After extensive consultations across religious, ethnic, and political lines in the North, we believe the most appropriate step forward is for a Northern Christian to be selected as the Vice Presidential candidate in 2027,”
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