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By Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
The All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders from the North East geopolitical zone have advised President Bola Tinubu to drop Vice President Kashim Shettima as his running mate or risk losing votes from the area in 2027.
A section of the APC major stakeholders from the zone, in separate interviews, described Shettima as a political liability to the party and the aspirations of the president.
The stakeholders alleged that Shettima was selective in handling the affairs of the party by not carrying along other states in the North East as he favours only Borno State in his appointments and projects. They also accused him of working at variance with the ideals and ideologies of the Tinubu administration.
Alhaji Usman Umar Gieri from Adamawa State lamented that major party chieftains who spent their resources and worked for the party and President Tinubu from Adamawa, Bauchi, Yobe, Taraba and Gombe states were denied appointments into Tinubu government while only those from Borno State were given special preference.
“Please, tell me how you want such stakeholders to come out with their resources and work for the party in 2027,” he asked rhetorically.
Aminu Mustapha, another APC stalwart from Yola, Adamawa State, said the only way President Tinubu would be guaranteed massive votes from the region in 2027 is to replace Shetima and bring in a more popular, more vibrant and more politically active person as a running mate. “Instead of wooing new members into the party and carrying along real major stakeholders, the VP has developed the habit of favouring only his stooges for federal appointments meant for the North East region.”
He said several prominent APC stakeholders from the zone were victims of Shetima’s sledge hammer but are all afraid of voicing out for fear of further victimisation.
“Why would the vice president select some specific APC stakeholders from the zone and give them special preference above others, a situation that has forced many party loyalists to lose interest in the affairs of APC in their states?” he queried.
Some of the stakeholders express bitterness that the vice president unilaterally used his position to change the position of the Managing Director of the North East Development Commission (NEDC) from Gombe to Borno by reinstating Mohammed Alkali Goni, who had earlier completed his tenure and was already replaced by the then President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
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“All the commissioners appointed by former President Buhari and other appointees from the states that made up the North East region were changed and replaced with Shetima’s stooges.
“President Muhammadu Buhari had already appointed Dr. Umar Abubakar Hashidu from Gombe State as new Managing Director and CEO, but Shettima on assumption as vice president upturned the appointment and gave it back to Alhaji Alkali from Borno.”
Alhaji Garba Tijani a chieftain of the APC in Gombe State said that the vice president was marginalising other states in the zone to favour Borno, which according to him, were part of the reasons stakeholders of the party in the north East don’t want Shettima as vice president in the next dispensation.
Another APC stalwart from Yobe State, Alhaji Bakura Idris Zana said the APC loyalists in the North East are now political orphans and have no one to run to because of Shettima’s attitude.
Hajia Hadiza Aliyu from Bauchi State advised Tinubu to choose between the votes from the North East and Shettima.
“Shettima is our headache in the North East, we work for our party because we expect reward but the VP has monopolised every benefit meant for the zone to himself,” she lamented.
Her views are not different from that of Jonathan Albert, another stakeholder from the Southern Taraba, who said a good number of influential APC chieftains from the state were already defecting to other political parties because of neglect by Shettima and the party. “We are fed up with APC in Taraba because our leaders who really worked for the party were not considered for appointments. Today, major stakeholders like Danji SS have dumped the party, citing injustice; that is what we are saying.”
During the recent zonal stakeholders’ meeting of the party in Gombe, other states refused to endorse Shettima for VP 2027. It was only Borno State that endorsed him during the meeting.
Mr. Micheal Zira, another APC stalwart from Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State also advised President Tinubu to discard Shettima for the party to get smooth victory in the 2027 presidential election.
Zira complained that the impact of Shettima as a vice president has not been felt in the zone except Borno his home state, and challenged anyone with facts about the impact of Shettima in the North East region, apart from Borno, to come forward and present such.
