APC chieftain backs Muslim-Muslim ticket for 2027, dismisses calls for change
Haruna Yerima, a former member of the House of Representatives, has said President Bola Tinubu will secure victory in the 2027 presidential elections if he retains Vice President Kashim Shettima as his running mate.
Yerima, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, made the comment in response to a call by the Northern Ethnic Nationality Forum urging the president to drop Shettima to avoid repeating the Muslim-Muslim ticket.
The group, speaking in Abuja on Saturday, had suggested that Tinubu should pick a Christian from Plateau, Benue, or Taraba states to douse fears of an alleged Islamisation agenda.
It warned that retaining the same pairing would provide the opposition with a campaign advantage.
But Yerima dismissed the call as baseless.
“The claim that the APC may lose the 2027 presidential elections if President Bola Tinubu adopts Vice President Kashim Shettima as his running mate is insane and unfounded,” he said.
The APC stalwart argued that suggestions of an Atiku Abubakar-Peter Obi ticket defeating Tinubu-Shettima were “a jaundiced and amateur political permutation without any empirical backing.”
He further described the forum as “faceless,” accusing it of recycling a discredited narrative.
“In the last two years of President Tinubu’s presidency, all doubting Thomases have seen that the APC administration is not tilted towards any religious group. It is appalling that such a group is trying to resurrect a forgotten issue,” Yerima said.
He stressed that Shettima was carefully selected in 2023 after “thorough consideration of various factors” and warned against attempts to impose a running mate on the president.
Yerima noted that President Tinubu was an experienced politician who would not be swayed by groups attempting to advance what he described as an unpopular agenda under ethnic platforms.
He further warned against mixing religion with politics, stressing that leadership should be judged on loyalty and competence rather than faith.
According to him, Vice President Shettima has carried out his responsibilities with commitment and efficiency.
