Tensions ran high at the North-East zonal consultative meeting in Gombe State as delegates warned President Bola Tinubu and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against dropping Vice President Kashim Shettima from the 2027 presidential ticket.
Delegates from the region, which comprises the old North-Eastern State, expressed their discontent amid growing rumours that Shettima may be replaced in Tinubu’s re-election bid.
They vowed to resist any attempt to sideline their son in what they described as a dangerous game of political exclusion.
“What we had been hearing as rumour is now playing out in our presence,” a delegate lamented, stressing that in 2027, “the people of the old North-Eastern State would make Tinubu understand that the North-East is not a zone to be used to play Lagos politics.”
Anger flared when the APC National Vice Chairman (North-East), Mustapha Salihu, failed to mention Shettima in his address. According to one delegate, who spoke anonymously, the situation escalated further because “they learnt that the APC Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, was coming with some unfriendly message for the zone.”
A former commissioner present at the gathering said the meeting turned chaotic when Ganduje also omitted Shettima’s name in his speech.
“It was when Ganduje delivered his speech that it became obvious that APC leaders want to drop Shettima from the presidential ticket, and our people showed them that it would not be an easy decision to make,” he said.
Some delegates even expressed frustration that security personnel prevented them from confronting Salihu physically, saying they had hoped to “teach him some home lessons.”
