The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Ajibola Basiru, says President Bola Tinubu has received overwhelming backing from party stakeholders to seek re-election in 2027 but insists that discussions on the choice of a running mate are premature.
Basiru, who served as spokesman of the 9th Senate, stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday. He explained that the decision on Tinubu’s running mate will only come after the party’s national convention, which typically holds a year before the general elections.
“As far as we are concerned, the national summit held in the Presidential Villa has endorsed Mr. President based on his track record. A large spectrum of stakeholders in our party have also overwhelmingly given their endorsement,” he said.
He added, “The question of a running mate is not yet onboard, and nobody has come to say that the President has made any adverse decision regarding the current Vice President.”
His remarks come amid controversy surrounding a recent APC stakeholders’ summit held in Gombe State for the North-East geopolitical zone, which turned rowdy after the party’s Vice Chairman in the region, Mustapha Salihu, named Tinubu as the sole candidate for re-election — without reference to Vice President Kashim Shettima.
The omission sparked protests from attendees who demanded that Shettima, an indigene of the region, also be endorsed.
Reacting to the incident, Basiru said the situation was not unusual in a democratic space.
“I was physically present in Gombe State. After the summit, we had a reception at the Government House. Some people in the North-East felt it sufficed to endorse the President alone and trust him to pick a running mate, while others felt the VP deserved mention, particularly as the summit was held in his region,” he said.
He stressed that the running mate issue has traditionally been handled after the presidential primary. “Even at the national convention, it is only the presidential candidate that emerges. The running mate selection comes after that. As far as our party is concerned, we have not made any statement or involved ourselves in the politics of the North-East.”
Tinubu, a former Lagos governor, and Shettima, ex-governor of Borno State, were elected on a joint APC ticket in 2023 and were sworn in on May 29 of the same year.
The re-election push received a boost on May 22, 2025, when 22 APC governors unanimously endorsed Tinubu as the party’s flagbearer for 2027. However, the endorsement also notably excluded any mention of the Vice President.
The silence on Shettima has drawn criticism from some quarters. Borno South Senator, Ali Ndume, publicly dissociated himself from the endorsement of Tinubu for a second term, saying he pitied the President.
Ndume warned against overconfidence, recalling that in 2015, former President Goodluck Jonathan secured the backing of 22 PDP governors but still lost to Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.
