By Yemi Adebowale
Two weeks ago, a senior editor contacted me to join a small team of senior editors for a “media job’. The mandate is to project a “Band A” politician from Plateau State as the man President Bola Tinubu would most likely pick as his running mate in 2027. “We need to have this story everywhere; we need to have you people projecting it aggressively. There is good money in this project,” the senior editor echoed excitedly. I politely declined the “job”. I am usually very careful about the kind of “media jobs” that I take.
That was just one of the many manufactured/sponsored “media jobs” about President Tinubu not retaining Kashim Shettima as his running mate in 2027. Stories along this line have been endless. Shettima had hardly settled in as Vice President in 2023 when desperate politicians with eyes on his job started pushing out stories that he was having issues with his principal and that he would not be retained in 2027. Back then, 2027 was like almost four years away. This is the brand of politics played in Nigeria.
Our politicians are largely desperate people. Many of them can kill to achieve their objectives. That was what some of these guys with eyes on Shettima’s job did when Tinubu’s foreign medicals became frequent. They told the President that Shettima’s juju is responsible for his frequent medicals. As part of their agenda, they kept whispering horrid things to Tinubu about Shettima. Despicable! People close to the President said Tinubu was never swayed by these crooked people and their narratives.
These guys with eyes on Shettima’s job are now pushing out anti-Shettima stories using the current Muslim-Muslim ticket as a peg. At one point, the narrative was that Christians in the North won’t vote for Tinubu in 2027 if Shettima is not replaced with a Christian. At another point, they said President Donald Trump had ordered Tinubu to pick a Christian running mate in 2027; that it was a condition Trump gave Tinubu as a way of ending the killing of Christians in Nigeria, else, he would get the “Maduro” treatment. So, Shettima must go. Haba! What is the business of Trump with Tinubu’s choice of running mate?
Apparently embarrassed by the unending mischievous rumours about Shettima and the office of Vice President in 2027, the ruling All Progressives Congress had to issue a statement to clarify things. Felix Morka, APC’s National Publicity Secretary, said the reports were speculative, untrue and utterly baseless.
Morka declared: “While these stories have been mostly subtle, they recently assumed a new dimension when names of specific individuals were touted as possible replacements for Vice President Shettima. We urge media organisations to refrain from lending their platforms to rumour-peddlers and mischievous ‘news sources’ of questionable provenance whose only intention is to promote discord and confusion in the polity. We call on our ministers, senior government and party officials to avoid, wittingly or unwittingly, stoking needless speculations, and to focus on their primary duty of diligent service to government and our Party.”
Nevertheless, stories about imaginary Shettima rifts with Tinubu continued. Yes, it will continue for a while. Desperate politicians need this to continue pushing the “drop Shettima agenda.” Let me say this straight away: There is no any rift between Shettima and Tinubu. You can take this to the bank. It will be cashed. You can bank on this piece of information. It is absolutely trustworthy. Few days back, a key Presidential aide told me bluntly: “Look, it is news to the President himself. I’m talking about those comical stories of rifts between Shettima and Tinubu. The President finds those stories amusing. Sometimes, he would be wondering if they were really talking about him and Shettima.”
So, Mr. Vice President, no shaking. I’m happy he is not shaking. Shettima should be having a good laugh about all the comical rumours about his impending replacement in 2027. It is part of the power game in Nigeria. Tinubu is happy with Shettima. I can confirm Tinubu repeatedly telling his close advisors this. Shettima has been clearly serving his principal with all his might; serving with so much loyalty. Mr. Vice President, keep it up.
One other fact that should worry the anti-Shettima campaigners is that in the history of this country’s Presidential system since 1979, no President has ever dropped his Vice President in a second term election. I can see history repeating itself in 2027. Even the then President Olusegun Obasanjo still retained Atiku Abubakar as his running mate in 2003, despite all their animosities.
N.B: RingTrue with Yemi Adebowale, February 1, 2026 [email protected]; 08054699539 (text only)
