2027: You will lose 80% of Northern Muslim votes – APC Forum warns Tinubu over Shettima

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President Bola Tinubu may lose 80 percent of the Muslim votes in the north if he gives in to pressure to replace Vice President Kashim Shettima and abandon the Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2027, according to the North-Central All Progressives Congress, APC, Forum.

Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, the chairman of the North-Central APC Forum, made the warning in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.

A number of organizations and interested parties have put pressure on Tinubu to remove Shettima as his running mate ahead of the 2027 election. When Tinubu runs for a second term in 2027, some APC members contend that the Muslim-Muslim ticket, which helped him win in 2023, would not be effective.

The Northern Ethnic Nationality Forum, headed by Dominic Alancha, cautioned Tinubu against running again on the Muslim-Muslim ticket during a recent appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today. The group pointed out that the APC lost several northern states, including Nasarawa, Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory, in the 2023 presidential election. Alancha further cautioned that if the APC runs the Muslim-Muslim ticket again in the upcoming presidential election, it will lose more support in the North, especially in the Middle Belt.

The North-Central APC Forum disputed the Northern Ethnic Nationality Forum’s claim that Tinubu would lose Christian votes in the Middle Belt if he pursued a Muslim-Muslim ticket, arguing that the president would not lose the region because important positions are held by prominent Middle Belt Christians, including APC National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda and Secretary to Government of the Federation, SGF, George Akume, among others.

“The Muslim-Muslim ticket will not affect President Bola Tinubu’s chances in the Middle Belt, which is part of the North-Central and this is because of the key positions held by Middle Belt christians in the APC government. We can guarantee that Tinubu will get 90 percent of the votes from the North-Central,” the statement said, stating that there is no need to incur the “needless risk of changing a winning team” because Tinubu’s accomplishments in office will ensure his reelection.

In order to win the 2027 election, the APC Forum recommended that Tinubu keep things as they are and run Shettima as his running mate.

The North-Central APC Forum went on to say that even if Tinubu complies with their request by withdrawing Shettima, the people who are urging him to abandon the Muslim-Muslim ticket did not support him in 2023 and would not do so again in 2027.

Parts of the statement read, “Those that are calling on President Bola Tinubu to change Vice President Kashim Shettima, basing their agitation on the Muslim-Muslim ticket, if you check, you will notice that in 2023, most of their communities voted for Peter Obi of the Labour Party.

“Now if Peter Obi is to come out again in 2027, as expected, what is the guarantee that they will vote for Tinubu even if he is to drop Shettima and replace him with a Christian? Does it mean that these people will now leave Peter Obi and vote for Tinubu?”

The APC Forum said that people opposing Shettima and the Muslim-Muslim ticket are trying to overthrow Tinubu in 2027 and blamed them creating mischief.

“The truth is most of these people are not Tinubu’s supporters, they don’t really want him to win reelection in 2027. That is why some of them are going as far as urging Mr President to drop those that went to great lengths to work for his victory in 2023. They are only trying to deceive Mr President but we believe the President knows better and will be able to see through their mischief. They don’t mean well for Mr President and the party.”

In a similar spirit, the Forum accused some individuals claiming to be involved in the President’s reelection of marginalizing and alienating Muslim communities in the north while focusing on Christians in the north.

“Another issue that we want to bring to Mr President’s attention is there are people close to him – we will not mention their names but they know themselves. They are going about in different communities in the North, giving money to some communities while excluding others all in the name of asking northern Christian communities to vote for Tinubu. But while they are doing that they are alienating and marginalizing northern Muslim communities. This is counter productive and it will backfire eventually and we don’t want Mr President to suffer because of the poor decisions of these people who are close to him.

“Now these people who are concentrating on northern Christians should consider this – what if the 2023 scenario repeats itself in 2027 with Peter Obi also contesting and President Tinubu now loses both Christian and Muslim votes? What if the Christian communities again vote for Obi and the Muslim communities who are now being neglected also refuse to vote for Tinubu?

“These are the issues that these people who are calling on Mr President to drop Shettima are either not thinking about, or are ignoring because they are up to mischief and do not mean well for the President and the APC.

“Our sincere advise for Mr President is that he should maintain the status quo that produced him. We are not in support of calls for President Tinubu to change the Vice President. Changing Kashim Shettima will not bear any positive fruit in the election because, looking at the results of the 2023 election, all the Christian dominated areas in the North voted for Peter Obi and we don’t expect a different outcome in 2027. Rather, President Tinubu risks losing a large chunk of northern Muslim votes if he listens to these calls and goes ahead to drop Vice President Kashim Shettima.

“We advise Mr President not to gamble with the 2023 election. President Tinubu will lose 80 percent of northern Muslim votes if he decides to change Shettima. Even if he decides to replace him with another northern Muslim, he will lose northern Muslim votes so the best approach is to maintain the status quo and go with what worked for him in the last election,” the statement stressed.

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