Vice-President Kashim Shettima has said internal divisions within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) worry him more than opposition figures Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Shettima spoke on Saturday in Abuja at the unveiling of the campaign headquarters of Arewa for Asiwaju (A4A), a northern coalition supporting the re-election of President Bola Tinubu and the Vice-President.
“Honestly, I am not afraid of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I am not afraid of a diminished Peter Obi. But I am more afraid of internal contradictions within our household. If we unite as a people, as a family, we will conquer,” he said.
He warned northern political leaders against supporting Tinubu’s presidential campaign while undermining APC governors seeking re-election in their states.
“There is no point in championing the cause of the presidential election and then undermining the governor in the gubernatorial election. Honestly, it will not go down well with the system,” he said.
Shettima urged party members to support APC governors, National Assembly members and the President to secure victory in the forthcoming elections.
“Let’s rally round our governors. Let’s rally round our members of the National Assembly. Let’s rally round President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and see to the victory in the next round of elections,” he added.
The Vice-President expressed confidence in the North’s support for Tinubu, saying the region had made its position clear.
“By now, I believe the North has spoken. We have spoken with a resounding voice and unmistakable conviction. From Adamawa to Zamfara, from Borno to Niger, we have spoken,” he said.
He also urged APC members to intensify their campaigns ahead of the polls, which he said were less than 100 days away.
On former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Shettima challenged party members to defeat him at the polls while maintaining respect.
“Go and perform. Go and defeat Baba Atiku. Defeat him respectfully,” he said.
Shettima said the APC had sufficient personnel to cover the country’s 176,845 polling units, citing the party’s 361,045 officials across ward and local government structures.
He also stressed the need for political appointees to demonstrate their electoral strength in their communities, saying he had asked the Borno State governor to account for appointees from the state down to the local government level.
“Politics is still local,” he said, adding that their performance should be assessed at their polling units, wards and local government areas.
The Vice-President said 18 of the 19 northern states were controlled by the APC. He also claimed that 15 of the 18 members of the House of Representatives elected on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) from Kano State had defected to the APC.
Acknowledging the economic difficulties facing many Nigerians, Shettima said the administration remained conscious of the challenges confronting households.
“Every household struggling to make ends meet reminds us how much remains to be done,” he said. “We lose our hearing when applause becomes our only source of information.”
He defended Tinubu’s economic policies, claiming that the President inherited a fragile economy with foreign reserves of $3.9 billion and Ways and Means advances exceeding ₦27 trillion.
“Nigeria was on the road to Caracas. The economy was teetering on the brink of collapse. He literally saved the nation,” Shettima said.
He added that the country’s foreign reserves had risen to about $58.9 billion, describing the development as a significant improvement.
“For the North, we have absolutely nothing to fear in a Tinubu second term. He has the North at heart,” he said.
APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, called for Tinubu’s re-election, citing infrastructure projects in the North, including the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano and Kano-Maiduguri highways.
Yilwatda said the two road projects covered more than 900 kilometres, arguing that they demonstrated the administration’s commitment to infrastructure development in the region.
The Director-General of A4A and former Jigawa State governor, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, said the coalition’s campaign headquarters was located at No. 4 Port Harcourt Street, Area 11, Garki, Abuja.
Describing the building as “the biggest campaign office anywhere in the country”, Badaru said the coalition would run a disciplined, peaceful and issue-based campaign across markets, farms, campuses, mosques and churches.
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