2027: Anger as Ganduje, APC North-East chairman endorse Tinubu without Shettima
The North East consultative stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, meeting in Gombe on Sunday, expected to endorse President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2027 Presidential election, ended in crisis over the exclusion of Vice President Kashim Shettima in the joint ticket by some speakers.
Three APC Governors from the zone, Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, Prof. Babagana Zulum of Borno State, and the host, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, in their speeches, endorsed the joint ticket of Kashim Shettima as Vice President and Bola Tinubu as President for the 2027 election.
But trouble started when the National Vice Chairman of the APC in the Northeast zone, Comrade Mustapha Salihu, did not mention Kashim Shettima in the joint ticket even at the tail end of his speech.
This didn’t go down well with majority of the delegates in the hall who started shouting Shettima! Shettima!! Shettima!!!
Our correspondent observed that Comrade Mustapha could barely finish his speech when he was physically confronted on stage by one of the diehard supporters of Shettima causing commotion with chairs being thrown from one end of the hall to the other in the presence of dignitaries, party stalwarts and delegates.
This resulted in pondemonium in the hall of the International Conference Centre Gombe, venue of the meeting.
The rowdiness, which lasted for over twenty minutes, could not be fully calmed even when the National Chairman of the APC, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, concluded his speech without categorically mentioning Kashim Shettima in the joint ticket.
He appealed for more unity, stressing that the party is highly interested in the Northeast. According to him, the party got 1.2 million votes during the 2023 presidential election and is expecting over a triple that in 2027.
At this point, it became clear to political observers that there is a plot to replace Shettima in the Tinubu ticket by a faction of the party making many delegates to start shouting ‘no Shettima, no APC Northeast’.
Some even vowed to join forces with Atiku Abubakar if Tinubu or the party dump Shettima in 2027.
The commotion resulted in many dignitaries, including past and present Governors, past and serving ministers, Senators, House of Representative members, party stalwarts from the Northeast to leave the hall unceremoniously.
Outside the hall, the Police had to fire teargas when tensions heightened forcing many to flee from the venue.
