Members of the North East zone of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in Gombe came together as friends and stakeholders united by a common interest, which was to consolidate the Tinubu/Shettima presidential ticket in the 2027 general election.

There was nothing to suggest that anyone among the huge crowd of enthusiastic supporters who had converged on Gombe on Sunday, June 15th 2025, was against the ambition of the topmost politicians in their party; President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Vice President, Alhaji Kashim Shettima. But a few minutes into their crucial meeting, a flame of fire that almost consumed the party, flared up like a whirlwind.

The fracas that erupted and disrupted the meeting for a while was unexpected, but it riveted the serene and jubilant mood at the venue and threw the party top shots and their supporters into disarray.

All that happened because of one man, Kashim Shettima, who is playing his role well as the Vice President of Nigeria and actively supporting his principal, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to push forward their joint ticket with the credo of the Renewed Hope Agenda.

They believe that given what they have done so far in the last two years, they both deserve a return ticket to the Presidential Villa. They may be right! This has also been accepted by many of the party?s governors, supporters and even governors in other political parties who are now falling over themselves to join the APC and bury their former parties.

But while that remains the situation, certain APC top officials drawn from the Northeastern flank of the party have their own feelings towards Shettima, although he is not in a position to know their mindset and their grudge against him and his future political interest.

As it turned out, it was the ill-feeling long harboured against Shettima that was subtly displayed by some of those who should defend and protect his interest whether in his presence or his absence. But they failed him woefully and left a sour taste in the process. They were among the Gombe crowd who wanted to use the occasion of the stakeholders? engagement to remind Shettima that they no longer trusted him and would want him to be replaced as Nigeria?s number two citizen.

Among those in this category are top politicians from Borno State where Shettima comes from, who are not happy that the VP whom they claim to have helped groom as a commissioner to governor and now, a powerful VP, does not seem to appreciate them enough and pay the required respects and appreciation. The top brass in this group, including former governors, top Borno opinion leaders and politicians, also have access to the Presidency and they often speak to those who matter in the corridors of power in Abuja. They are believed to have been drumming their grievances against Shettima to those whose ears are necessary and important to getting him dropped in favour of their preferred prot?g? come 2027.

But in sending that message across to the wider audience, the protagonists of the move to remove Shettima from the 2027 joint ticket with Tinubu were almost lynched as they tried to play a fast one at the wrong place and time. Although the messenger, Mustapha Salihu, who is the Vice Chairman of the APC in the Northeastern zone of the APC, tried in vain to justify the omission of Shettima?s name when endorsing Tinubu, delegates from Borno and other states who hold the VP in high esteem, and are ready to go all out for his return with Tinubu in 2027, did not buy into Salihu?s logic and were not in the mood to listen to his explanations.

Those from the zone, who did not approve of Shettima?s choice as Tinubu?s VP, had argued that the North East was not deserving of the post having not given more votes than other zones to the Tinubu ticket in the 2023 election. To them, the North East region had performed below expectations in the 2023 presidential election and should therefore not be conferred with any special privileges within the party not to talk of being given another opportunity for Shettima to be the running mate of Tinubu come 2027.

Indeed, the battle for the removal of Senator Kashim Shettima by his political enemies had been simmering over time but only came to the full glare of his supporters and stakeholders on that fateful Sunday afternoon in Gombe, an action that tended to dent the spirit of unity and bond of cohesion needed for the next political victory of the ruling party.

This is happening at a time when other parties opposed to the Tinubu-Shettima ticket are actively coalescing with a view to preventing the incumbent from retaining power in 2027.

Trouble was said to have started at the meeting, which was expected to endorse President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election when some of those who spoke at the event omitted Vice President Kashim Shettima?s name from the joint ticket. The three Northeast APC governors; Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State and the host, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, had all concluded their speeches endorsing the joint ticket of Kashim Shettima as vice president with Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president for the 2027 election.

However, when the National Vice Chairman of the APC in the Northeast zone, Mustapha Salihu, did not openly mention Kashim Shettima?s name while endorsing Tinubu for a second term in 2027, all hell was let loose in the process. Salihu was not allowed to conclude his speech. Those who were close to him grabbed him and started pouring invectives on him while others, who could not reach him, starting screaming from the top of their voices: Shettima! Shettima!! Shettima!!!

Not done with their protest, the aggrieved die-hard supporters from Borno and elsewhere, descended brutally on Salihu, using stones, chairs and anything on sight against him. The man was helpless and was immediately bundled out to safety by security men to avoid being lynched by those who manhandled him at the Gombe State International Conference Centre. It was pandemonium everywhere which happened in the full glare of the host governor, Inuwa Yahaya, Mai Buni of Yobe and Babagana Zulum of Borno, a strong supporter of Shettima, who also led a very strong and big delegation to the troubled meeting.

The commotion, which lasted over 20 minutes was still raging when the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, concluded his speech without categorically mentioning Kashim Shettima on the joint ticket, thereby compounding the whole problem.

The attack was so serious that the police had to use teargas to disperse the attackers and those who resisted them when tension heightened, forcing many to flee from the hall for their dear lives.

Although the face-off was eventually quelled, it has nonetheless created a serious crack in the APC in the North East and set the stage for a major crisis in the build-up to the 2027 poll. It is also capable of causing many political alignments and realignments in the coming weeks or months ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Reacting to the development, the Deputy National Chairman (DNC North) of the party, Hon. Ali Bukar Dalori, dismissed it as a mere storm in the tea cup, saying that the re-election of Tinubu with Shettima remains unchanged and non-negotiable. Dalori said Shettima remains the anointed candidate because he has not committed any offence against the party to warrant being replaced by any other person.

Mr. Dalori, who expressed displeasure over the fracas, revealed that, if Mustapha Salihu and another influential member of the APC would team up against Shettima for reason best known to them, their decision would not in any way destroy the unity of the party in the zone, adding that the APC would continue to unite and become stronger not only in the North East but also in the country as a whole.

Dalori said, ?I agree there was a fracas where some people felt aggrieved and hurled some objects targeting Mustapha Salihu, who is the National Vice Chairman, APC North East accusing him of not mentioning the name of Kashim Shettima after he endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to run for second term come 2027.

?But whether Mr. Salihu did it intentionally or otherwise, I can assure all the people of the North East and Nigeria in general that there is no cause for alarm. Salihu is entitled to his political opinion. This is because as we approach the 2027 political atmosphere and there continues to be alignment and realignment, the Tinubu/Shettima ticket remains non-negotiable. In fact, those of us in the ruling APC have not yet found the any sin committed by Senator Kashim Shettima to warrant his substitution.

?Unfortunately, some aggrieved and loyalists of Kashim Shettima hurled chairs and other objects targeting Salihu after his speech to demonstrate their anger against his stance. The fracas that ensued is normal in politics because sometimes we have to agree and disagree. But let me reassure everyone that we are on top of the situation?.

Dr. Umar Duhu, a prominent APC leader and stakeholder in the North-East, condemned what he described as a ?shocking and unacceptable? proposal to take the office of the Vice President from the North-East to another geopolitical zone. Dr. Duhu, who described the proposition ?absurd and a blatant disregard for the interests of the North-East?, accused its proponents of betraying the trust and loyalty of the region?s people and Vice President Kashim Shettima, a key figure in the APC?s northern stronghold. ?It is utterly inconceivable that any politician, regardless of their rank, would suggest such a divisive and destructive idea,? Duhu declared, calling the move a ?treacherous plan? orchestrated by conspirators with ulterior motives.

Also, a prominent APC figure from the zone, who did not want his name mentioned, said: ?In 2018, we all saw how APC stakeholders rallied behind the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket and not Buhari alone. Movements like BOA (Buhari Osinbajo Again), BOHM, and others were all structured around promoting the duo, respecting the North-South, Muslim-Christian balance. Even at the grassroots, it was clear: they were a team. Osinbajo, despite being Vice President, was defended, endorsed, and celebrated across regions. It wasn?t a Buhari show, it was a partnership. But today, under President Tinubu, the story has changed completely and everything is now centered around Tinubu alone. We hardly hear of Tinubu/Shettima 2027 but only ?BAT 2027.?

To make matters worse, some APC stakeholders are now openly saying it?s not their duty to endorse the Vice President. That?s a red flag.

?Why is Shettima being airbrushed out of the political narrative? Is this a strategy or a silent message to the North that they are no longer co-pilots in the APC arrangement?? he queried.

Also reacting, the former Commissioner of Special Duties and APC chieftain in Borno state, Eng. Kabir Mohammed Wanori, said: ?In politics, unity is the oxygen of victory. No matter how brilliant the strategy or how well-oiled the machinery, a house divided is doomed to fail.

?This historic gathering sent an unmistakable signal that no lone mischief-maker or puppet master?s selfish schemes can tear apart the fabric of North-East APC unity. Except for a handful of individuals who, out of bitterness and bruised egos, refused to honour the invitation or send a decent apology, the entire North-East spoke with thunderous clarity. It is laughable that these same people, roundly humiliated by the PDP in their own backyard, now think they can smuggle confusion into a forum they have lost the moral standing to influence?.

He noted that the omission was not an isolated incident and that Salihu was doing it deliberately to spite Shettima. He noted, ?During the June 12 Democracy Day celebration in Yola, Adamawa State, Salihu had similarly excluded Shettima?s name while commissioning a new APC state secretariat, raising eyebrows across the geopolitical zone?.

On the call by some loyalists to the National Chairman of the APC, Dr. Umar Ganduje, that Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state should apologise for allegedly mobilizing political thugs that led to the chaos, Dr. Hassan Zanna Boguma and Special Adviser to Zulum on Culture and Regional Integration said, such calls remained laughable.

Hassan said, ?The Gombe fracas was not just a disruption of political order?it was a revelation. It exposed the political hypocrisy that exists within the same alliances that preach unity but secretly undermine their own. It showed how politicians from the North West and North Central still believe that power must rotate only among themselves, and every other region?especially the Northeast?must wait endlessly in the queue, no matter how loyal, capable, or sacrificial its people are.

?Shettima, a statesman of sharp intellect and deep national appeal, embodies the sacrifices and aspirations of the Northeast. He stood by the president when many doubted him. He delivered his region at great political cost. Any attempt to discard him now is not just unfair?it is reckless.

?This is not the first time the Northeast has been betrayed at the edge of power. We must recall the historic injustice suffered by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe at the Jos Convention of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1993. Despite being a front-runner with massive grassroots support and intellectual depth, Kingibe was pushed aside to satisfy the same North Central and Western political aristocracy that today tries to rewrite history.

?The betrayal of Kingibe was a direct message that no matter how qualified a Northeasterner is, the highest offices in the land are ?reserved? for others. Today, those same regions continue to play the kingmakers, deciding who is in and who is out?forgetting the contributions of a region that has bled and suffered for Nigeria?s peace and stability.

?The Northeast will no longer be silent. We will no longer trade our loyalty for crumbs. The politics of betrayal must end. The sacrifices of our people must be acknowledged. And those who dare to erase Shettima from 2027 must be prepared to face a united Northeast ready to speak with one voice. Zulum must not apologize. Shettima must stay. The Northeast must rise,? said Zanna Boguma of Borno.

Whether the fire against Shettima is real or imagined, only time will tell what it means; who is fueling it, how it will end and in whose interest. (Saturday Vanguard)

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