Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former political adviser to President Bola Tinubu, has issued a stern warning against any move to sideline Northern Muslims or drop Vice President Kashim Shettima ahead of the 2027 elections.
Speaking with news men on Monday, Baba-Ahmed emphasised that such a political misstep could cost Tinubu heavily in the North.
He noted that Shettima, a prominent Muslim from the North, symbolizes the region’s stake in the current government and dropping him for political balancing would send the wrong message.
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“If the President drops Shettima because he believes the North represents a problem and he has to tinker with faith or geography, then he has a problem,” Baba-Ahmed warned.
He explained that Tinubu’s electoral victory was largely hinged on the controversial Muslim-Muslim ticket, and walking away from that could erode the political capital that brought him to power.
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“You now jettison the Muslim-Muslim ticket first, that is a big problem for him because that’s what gave him power in the first place,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed cautioned that selecting a Northern Christian in place of Shettima might alienate Northern Muslims, further weakening Tinubu’s 2027 re-election prospects.
“The pointers appear to be that he thinks that the Northern Muslims have turned their backs on him… and that will be a terrible miscalculation. The next thing he has to do is get a huge chunk of the North to come back as President.”
