Vice President Kashim Shettima has admitted that he fears divisions within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) more than the opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Shettima spoke on Saturday in Abuja while unveiling the campaign headquarters of Arewa for Asiwaju (A4A), a northern coalition backing the Tinubu/Shettima ticket, and formally inaugurating 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 presidential ambitions 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 cautioned.
“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 victory in the next round of elections,” he added.
The Vice President maintained that the North had already made up its mind. “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 reminded the gathering that the polls are fast approaching. “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 former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Shettima urged party members to engage him respectfully. “Go and perform. Go and defeat Baba Atiku. Defeat him respectfully,” he said.
He noted that the party has the grassroots machinery 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.
Insisting that “politics is still local,” Shettima revealed he had asked the Borno State governor to compile a list of all political appointees from the state down to the 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 dominance in the North, Shettima claimed that 18 out of the 19 northern states are controlled by the APC. He added that 15 of the 18 House of Representatives members under the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Kano have defected to the APC, noting, “The governor is with the APC.”
The Vice President acknowledged that many families are currently 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, Shettima argued that 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, 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 neighborhood of $58.9 billion.”
He assured the North that it has nothing to fear from a second Tinubu 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 endorsing 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 highlighted the administration’s infrastructure projects in the region, including the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano and Kano-Maiduguri roads. “Those two roads alone are over 900 kilometers, more than the 700 kilometers of Lagos Road,” he said.
The Director-General of A4A and former Jigawa State governor, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, disclosed that the new campaign headquarters is located at No. 4 Port Harcourt Street, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, describing 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 added that the group would run “a campaign that is disciplined, peaceful, and issue-based,” taking its message directly to markets, farms, campuses, mosques, and churches.
