By Omeiza Ajayi
Vice President Kashim Shettima has said he fears divisions within the ruling All Progressives Congress APC more than he fears the opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Shettima spoke on Saturday in Abuja when he unveiled the campaign head office of Arewa for Asiwaju (A4A), a northern coalition backing the Tinubu/Shettima ticket, and formally inaugurated its campaign structure.
“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 leaders against pursuing the presidential race at the expense of their governors. “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.
“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 said the North had already made its choice. “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 told the gathering that the poll is close. “In less than 100 days, Nigerians will return to the polls. Democracy requires us to seek their confidence again, with humility about the work outstanding and conviction about the cause we have chosen,” he said.
On Atiku Abubakar, Shettima urged party members to take him on respectfully. “Go and perform. Go and defeat Baba Atiku. Defeat him respectfully,” he said.
He said the party had the structure to contest every polling unit. “There are 176,845 polling units across the country. The APC, from ward to local government levels, has 361,045 officials. What it means is that we can match every polling unit two to two,” he said.
Shettima said appointees must prove their local strength. “Politics is still local,” he said, adding that he had asked the Borno State governor to compile a list of all political appointees from the state to local government level. “Let him account for his performance at his polling unit, at his ward unit and in his local government,” he said.
On the party’s standing in the North, he said, “Out of 19 states in the North, 18 are in the APC.” He said 15 of the 18 members of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) from Kano in the House of Representatives have crossed to the APC, adding: “The governor is with the APC.”
The Vice President acknowledged that many families are struggling. “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.”
Defending the administration’s economic record, he said Tinubu inherited a weak economy. “When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed the mantle of leadership in this country, what we had in our foreign reserves was a country with 3.9 billion dollars, barely enough to import oil for one month. And our Ways and Means expenditure was over N27 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 “for the first time in nearly 18 years, our foreign reserves are in the neighbourhood of 58.9 billion dollars.
He assured that the North has nothing to fear about a Tinubu second term.
“For the North, we have absolutely nothing to fear in a Tinubu second term. He has the North at heart,” he said.
National Chairman of the APC, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, moved a motion at the event for the President’s return and asked the audience to affirm it.
“Today is a time for us to renew a mandate that was largely supported by the North, and the North again will largely support the return of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term,” Yilwatda said.
He cited the President’s projects in the region, including the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano and Kano-Maiduguri roads. “Those two roads alone are over 900 kilometres, more than the 700 kilometres of Lagos Road,” he said.
The Director General of A4A and former Jigawa State governor, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, said the new campaign headquarters is at No. 4 Port Harcourt Street, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, and described it as “the biggest campaign office anywhere in the country.”
“Let it be understood that this building is more than just a campaign office. It is a message. It says that Arewa is serious,” Badaru said.
He said the group would run “a campaign that is disciplined, peaceful and issue-based,” taking its message to markets, farms, campuses, mosques and churches.
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