Hakeem Baba-Ahmed: Tinubu’s silence on claims of dropping Shettima in 2027 is worrying

Hakeem Baba-Ahmed says President Bola Tinubu ought to have publicly dismissed claims that he plans to replace Vice-President Kashim Shettima ahead of the 2027 elections.

There is growing speculation about an alleged plan to drop Shettima as Tinubu’s running mate as the president prepares for re-election.

In June, the All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders’ summit in Gombe descended into chaos after some speakers endorsed Tinubu for a second term without mentioning Shettima.

However, Bayo Onanuga, presidential spokesperson, dismissed the claims as a “non-issue”.

Onanuga said Tinubu would choose his 2027 running mate after the next convention of the ruling party, adding that in a presidential system, the candidate is nominated before selecting a running mate.

He added that claims of a rift between Tinubu and Shettima—which surfaced even before the current endorsement debate—were unfounded.

But speaking on Wednesday during an interview on ‘Politics Today,’ a Channels TV programme, Baba-Ahmed said Tinubu should have addressed the matter directly if it truly held no weight.

“I would be very curious to find out what it is that makes all these stories about dropping him (Shettima),” he said.

“I think, somewhere along the line, to be honest, the president should have done something a long time ago.

“If all these stories about dropping the vice-president for somebody else—another northern vice-president, maybe a Christian, maybe from somewhere else—have absolutely no iota of truth, it would have taken just one thing: the president directly and personally saying, ‘Stop this nonsense’.

“I have confidence in my vice-president, I work well with him, I am happy with him, and I want this nonsense about me dropping him now or in the future.

“I will take a decision on who my running mate is in 2027 when we get there. In the meantime, we have work to do. But he didn’t say that. His people didn’t say that.”

He said Tinubu’s silence on the matter is unsettling.

“It’s worrying; let me just say it is worrying,” he said.

“If what I have said is exactly what the president thinks, he should have said it.

“If he doesn’t say it the way I have, he should have found a way, but it should come from him—it should be direct, and it must be emphatic.”

Baba-Ahmed, a former spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), recently resigned as special adviser on political affairs in the office of the vice-president.