2027: Storm as Shettima’s fate divides APC

Shettima

The banner was already hanging when Abdulkarim Lawan walked into the hall in Maiduguri. It stretched wide behind the podium at the North-East Zonal Public Hearing of the All Progressives Congress (APC), filled with familiar faces: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, governors from the zone, and senior party officials.

But one face was missing. Lawan, Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly and the longest-serving speaker in Nigeria’s history, noticed it instantly. The Vice President of the Federal Republic, Kashim Shettima; a son of Borno, former governor, and the most senior APC figure from the North-East, was nowhere on the banner.

When Lawan stood up to speak, it was not on the constitutional amendment agenda. His voice carried irritation and disbelief.

“Why would the Vice President’s picture not be included in the banner?” he asked. The hall answered with loud applause. What could have been dismissed as a design oversight now felt like a deliberate act, and a provocation.

Why This Absence Hit Harder

This was not the first time Shettima’s image had disappeared at a party event in the region. A similar exclusion at a gathering in Gombe State last year had sparked a fracas that disrupted proceedings entirely. But Maiduguri was different. It was home. And it came at a moment when Nigeria’s political class has begun quietly positioning for 2027.

Within the APC, a troubling speculation has gained ground: that President Tinubu may consider replacing Vice President Shettima on the party’s next presidential ticket, largely because of renewed debates around the Muslim–Muslim ticket and external pressure linked to religious balancing.

The omission of Shettima’s image gave physical form to what had until then existed mostly as whispers.

Inside the Party: Fear of a Costly Gamble

Abayomi Nurain Mumuni, an APC chieftain and security expert who served on the intelligence and security team of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council in 2023, warned that replacing Shettima on religious grounds would be a dangerous political gamble.