With the precedents set by the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress in the 2003 and 2019 elections when the sitting president and his vice were not jointly endorsed by the ruling party, Ejiofor Alike writes that the current internal wrangling in the APC over the party’s silence on the endorsement of Vice President Kashim Shettima as vice presidential candidate for the 2027 presidential election is hasty, unnecessary and premature

The uneasy calm in the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the non-endorsement of Vice President Kashim Shettima as President Bola Tinubu’s running mate in the 2027 presidential election degenerated into violence at a recent meeting of the North-east stakeholders of the APC in Gombe State after the National Vice Chairman of the ruling party in the zone, Mustapha Salihu, failed to mention Shettima’s name while endorsing President Tinubu for a second term.

The APC inflicted this crisis on itself when it embarked on a gale of endorsements of President Tinubu as sole candidate of the party, when he has not even utilised up to two years in his present four-year tenure.   

It was not until April 2018, less than one year to the 2019 general election, that the 24 governors elected on the APC platform endorsed  then President Muhammadu Buhari for reelection.

But the ruling party went into panic mode and embarked on hurried endorsement of President Tinubu two years before the 2027 presidential election due to the ongoing mobilisation of a coalition by the leaders of opposition parties to stop Tinubu’s reelection.

Before the North-east stakeholders’ meeting, the 22 governors of APC had at the party’s National Summit held at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja, unanimously endorsed President Tinubu as the party’s sole presidential candidate, without mentioning Shettima.

The endorsement was announced by the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, at the summit themed ‘Renewed Hope Agenda: The Journey So Far.’

Uzodimma moved the motion for Tinubu’s adoption as the APC’s sole candidate, which was seconded by the PGF Vice Chairman, Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State.

Shortly before the 22 APC governors endorsed Tinubu, five northern governors elected on the platform of the party and other stakeholders from the North-central had also endorsed him for reelection but were silent on Shettima.

The decision was reached in Abuja when five governors of the party from the geopolitical zone met with other APC leaders from the zone.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, moved the motion for the endorsement of the president for reelection in 2027, while the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule read the communique.

However, Tinubu’s endorsement by the North-east APC in Gombe State generated a crisis due to the non-endorsement of Shettima by his own geopolitical zone.

The meeting was attended by virtually all ministers, lawmakers, and governors of the party from the region.

National Chairman of the APC, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, also led some key personalities to the event.

When it was the turn of National Vice Chairman of the ruling party in the North-east, Salihu to speak, he endorsed Tinubu as an unopposed candidate of the APC but was silent about Shettima.

However, to calm the aggrieved stakeholders, the Deputy National Chairman of the party, Bukar Dalori, endorsed both Tinubu and Shettima for a second term.

But the meeting ended abruptly after the National Chairman, Ganduje, also endorsed Tinubu, without mentioning Shettima throughout his speech, which lasted about 10 minutes, and this angered party supporters, who moved to attack him.

Ganduje had to be escorted out of the venue by security operatives.

Though President Tinubu has never made a public statement to indicate a rift with his vice, conspiracy theorists allege a plot to drop Shettima as his running mate in 2027.

However, with the precedents set by both the PDP and the APC, the non-endorsement of Shettima by the APC should not raise eyebrows as no ruling party has ever endorsed the president and his vice jointly.

Since 1999, it has always been a sitting president’s prerogative to unveil his running mate.

For instance, a stakeholders’ meeting of the PDP at Obasanjo’s residence in Ota, Ogun State, had endorsed the then-President Olusegun Obasanjo for reelection but were silent on the fate of his vice president, Atiku Abubakar, who was not at the meeting.

This development had made Atiku to reveal in a BBC interview in 2002 that he was considering whether to contest for the 2003 presidential election or back someone else.

However, Obasanjo unveiled Atiku as his running mate shortly before the commencement of voting at the party’s National Convention.

Also ahead of the 2019 general election, 24 governors elected on the platform of the ruling APC had in April 2018 announced their endorsement of former President Buhari as the sole candidate of the party without mentioning Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as his running mate.

 The then Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo made the position of the governors known to State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with Buhari at the Presidential villa, Abuja.

Buhari had earlier, at the APC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, declared his intention to run for a second term in 2019, without also mentioning Osinbajo.

Then National Leader of the APC, President Tinubu, had in December 2017 said he had “absolute confidence and was exceedingly proud of the excellent job Professor Osinbajo was doing as Vice President of Nigeria.”

But Tinubu’s strong support for Osinbajo could not make the APC governors endorse him when they endorsed Buhari in April 2018.

It was not until August 2018 that the Senior Special to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said that Osinbajo would run on the same ticket with Buhari in the 2019 presidential polls.

Shehu was reacting to the string of victories recorded by the ruling APC during the previous weekend’s by-elections in the country.

“Decisive victories in senatorial and state assembly elections in Katsina, Bauchi and Kogi states were an indication that the Buhari/Osinbajo presidential ticket that won the 2015 election will ensure an encore in 2019,” he said.

The presidential media aide said the victory in those states showed that the ruling party was still popular and that Nigerians had just endorsed the Buhari/Osinbajo joint ticket.

So, while Obasanjo unveiled Atiku as his running mate in the 2003 presidential election shortly before the commencement of voting at the PDP national convention, Osinbajo was confirmed as Buhari’s running mate exactly seven months to the February 23, 2019 presidential election.

With these precedents by the APC and the PDP, the current bickering over Shettima’s fate when the 2027 elections are still two years ahead, is hasty and premature.

​