By Kolawole Ojebisi
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) National Vice-chairman (North East), Salihu Mustapha, has recounted his ordeal at the party’s recent summit in Gombe, stressing that he had a close shave with death.
Mustapha maintained that he could have been lynched by the political thugs who disrupted the summit but his military training served him in good stead.
Mustapha spoke in an interview with Trust TV on Friday.
“I had to defend myself. I called in my security detail and fought my way out. If not for the few boys shielding me—and my own strength—I could have been lynched.
“They tried to attack me, but I defended myself. Even amid the chaos, I told the governor, ‘Tell your people to stop.’ Because I can defend myself—I’m militarily trained and experienced in handling situations like this,”.
The APC chieftain insisted that his decision not to endorse Vice President Kashim Shettima as President Tinubu’s running mate during the summit was guided by party procedures for candidate nomination.
According to him a politician from Borno State, whom he accused of exploiting political thuggery for personal gain, orchestrated the chaos to further strain his relationship with the vice president.
Recall that the omission of Shettima from a wave of endorsements for Tinubu has stirred unease in recent weeks, culminating in a tense standoff during the APC North East stakeholders’ summit held in Gombe last weekend.
Although party leaders from the zone eventually endorsed the Tinubu-Shettima ticket for the 2027 election, it followed a rowdy session triggered by the refusal of Mustapha to endorse Shettima alongside the president.
