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.
“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.
“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.”
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