A leading figure in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ismaeel Ahmed, has shut down recent claims of a fallout between President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, labelling them as baseless and driven by misinformation.
Appearing on Politics Today, a Channels Television current affairs programme, the former APC Board of Trustees member dismissed the growing whispers that Shettima might be dropped as Tinubu’s running mate ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
“It’s (friction) not true. I know it very well. Who is ever in a 100 per cent relationship with anyone? There is trust between President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima. We are trying to create an issue where there is none,” Ahmed said, firmly denying any signs of discord within the presidency.
He further noted that any talk of Shettima being sidelined or replaced lacked credibility.
“All of these, as far as I am concerned, are rumours—absolutely rumours. I am absolutely aware there is no discussion about substituting the Vice President. There is no discussion about the vice president being blocked,” he clarified.
“Those are all malicious rumours by people who probably don’t understand what’s going on in the presidency or don’t know how the presidency works.”
Amid persistent political noise, Ahmed called on both party members and the wider public to concentrate on governance and delivery, rather than pre-election speculation. He stressed that the Tinubu administration still has much work ahead before the next round of elections.
“We have a mandate from the people for four years. Two years have passed; we have one year to the primaries and two to the general elections. For God’s sake, we are a government in office, a party in government. That means we are supposed to obey the rules of INEC at a minimum. Let’s focus on governing,” he said.
He added, “There are so many things we are doing right—let’s espouse them. We need to communicate with the people effectively. That should be the focus of the party and the government. Anything other than that is a distraction.”
The APC chieftain’s remarks came after Sunday’s controversial North-East summit in Gombe, where Mustapha Salihu, the party’s National Vice Chairman for the region, publicly backed President Tinubu for re-election but notably failed to mention Vice President Shettima, himself a Northeasterner. The omission sparked intense speculation.
Ahmed, however, played down the incident, suggesting that it was blown out of proportion and rooted in the party’s internal culture rather than any personal slight.
“We have a culture in the APC, and that culture is that the sitting president is not challenged; he is going to have his second-term ticket if he wants it,” he said.
“The drama that happened at the APC North-East Summit was too melodramatic. Why are we endorsing a president that doesn’t need it? Tinubu doesn’t need endorsement from his own political party. It is a given that he is going to be our candidate in 2027.”
Describing the endorsement as performative, Ahmed concluded, “As far as I am concerned, there shouldn’t be any endorsements again. That’s just orchestrated sycophancy.”
