The All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders’ summit in Gombe descended into chaos on Sunday after some speakers endorsed President Bola Tinubu for a second term without mentioning Vice-President Kashim Shettima.
The incident occurred during speeches by top party officials, beginning with Mustapha Salihu, APC national vice-chairman (north-east), who endorsed Tinubu as the party’s unopposed candidate for the 2027 presidential election.
However, his failure to acknowledge Shettima sparked an immediate backlash from attendees.
Delegates, visibly angered by the omission, began shouting and disrupting the meeting, with some issuing threats of violence.
Advertisement
Salihu was swiftly escorted out by security operatives as tensions flared.
Bukar Dalori, the deputy national chairman, then addressed the crowd and endorsed both Tinubu and Shettima for second terms.
Dalori endorsed both Tinubu and Shettima for second terms, a move widely viewed as an attempt to manage the fallout from Salihu’s remarks. However, the crowd remained agitated and the unrest persisted.
Advertisement
Abdullahi Ganduje, the APC national chairman, later took the stage and again endorsed only Tinubu in a speech lasting about ten minutes without mentioning Shettima.
His speech reignited tensions among attendees, and he was also quickly escorted from the hall as the situation grew increasingly volatile.
Videos from the meeting trending on social media showed that the gathering ended abruptly.
The development comes amid recent rumours surrounding Shettima’s position within the presidency.
Advertisement
On April 19, the presidency issued a formal denial of reports alleging that Shettima had been denied access to the presidential villa.
Stanley Nkwocha, senior special assistant to the president on media and communications (office of the vice-president), described the reports as a “deliberate and well-planned orchestration of falsehood”.
