Northern group warns President Tinubu against dropping Shettima ahead of 2027 elections

Northern group warns President Tinubu against dropping Shettima ahead of 2027 elections

The Northern Ethnic Nationality Forum has warned that continuing with the Muslim-Muslim ticket could cost the All Progressives Congress (APC) more ground in the North, especially in the Middle Belt.

They cited the loss of states like Nasarawa, Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the 2023 presidential election as evidence that the strategy might not work again.

Conversely, the North-Central APC Forum, led by Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, argues that abandoning the current ticket would be a mistake.

The forum insists that the ticket was a winning strategy in 2023 and believes it would secure 90% of votes from the North-Central region in 2027.

They claim that the ticket doesn’t marginalize Christians, pointing to prominent Christian figures from the Middle Belt, such as APC National Chairman Professor Nentawe Yilwatda and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, who hold key positions in the administration.

Looking at the 2023 election results provides context for these debates. In the North-Central region, President Tinubu secured a significant number of votes, but the outcome varied by state: Benue: Peter Obi (Labour Party) won with 137,364 votes, while Tinubu received 67,341 votes.

Kogi: Tinubu won with 239,077 votes, and Atiku Abubakar (Peoples Democratic Party) received 145,188 votes.

Kwara: Tinubu secured a victory with 263,429 votes, and Abubakar trailed with 136,997 votes.

Nasarawa: Abubakar won with 147,093 votes, narrowly defeating Tinubu, who had 172,922 votes.

Niger: Tinubu took the lead with 377,232 votes, followed by Abubakar with 284,898 votes.

Plateau: Obi won decisively with 466,272 votes, while Abubakar and Tinubu received 238,367 and 147,750 votes respectively.

The North-Central APC Forum’s projection of a 90% vote share in 2027 is a significant claim, especially considering the varied results and the fact that the APC did not win all states in the region during the last election.

Parts of the statement read, “Those that are calling on President Bola Tinubu to change Vice President Kashim Shettima, basing their agitation on the Muslim-Muslim ticket, 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 is to come out again in 2027, as expected, what is the guarantee that they will vote for Tinubu even if he is to drop Shettima and replace him with a Christian? Does it mean that these people will now leave Peter Obi and vote for Tinubu?”
The APC Forum accused those campaigning against Shettima and the Muslim-Muslim ticket of mischief, noting that they are seeking Tinubu’s defeat in 2027.

“The truth is most of these people are not Tinubu’s supporters, they don’t really want him to win reelection in 2027. That is why some of them are going as far as urging Mr President to drop those that went to great lengths to work for his victory in 2023. They are only trying to deceive Mr President but we believe the President knows better and will be able to see through their mischief. They don’t mean well for Mr President and the party.”
The Forum, in the same vein, alleged that some people who claim to be working for the President’s reelection are alienating and marginalizing northern Muslim communities, while concentrating attention on northern Christians.
“Another issue that we want to bring to Mr President’s attention is there are people close to him – we will not mention their names but they know themselves. They are going about in different communities in the North, giving money to some communities while excluding others all in the name of asking northern Christian communities to vote for Tinubu. But while they are doing that they are alienating and marginalizing northern Muslim communities. This is counter productive and it will backfire eventually and we don’t want Mr President to suffer because of the poor decisions of these people who are close to him.
“Now these people who are concentrating on northern Christians should consider this – what if the 2023 scenario repeats itself in 2027 with Peter Obi also contesting and President Tinubu now loses both Christian and Muslim votes? What if the Christian communities again vote for Obi and the Muslim communities who are now being neglected also refuse to vote for Tinubu?
“These are the issues that these people who are calling on Mr President to drop Shettima are either not thinking about, or are ignoring because they are up to mischief and do not mean well for the President and the APC.
“Our sincere advise for Mr President is that he should maintain the status quo that produced him. We are not in support of calls for President Tinubu to change the Vice President. Changing Kashim Shettima will not bear any positive fruit in the election because, looking at the results of the 2023 election, all the Christian dominated areas in the North voted for Peter Obi and we don’t expect a different outcome in 2027. Rather, President Tinubu risks losing a large chunk of northern Muslim votes if he listens to these calls and goes ahead to drop Vice President Kashim Shettima.
“We advise Mr President not to gamble with the 2023 election. President Tinubu will lose 80 percent of northern Muslim votes if he decides to change Shettima. Even if he decides to replace him with another northern Muslim, he will lose northern Muslim votes so the best approach is to maintain the status quo and go with what worked for him in the last election,” the statement stressed.