Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, former Political Adviser to President Bola Tinubu, on Monday warned him against turning his back on the North
Baba-Ahmed also warned Tinubu against dropping Vice President Kashim Shettima, stressing that he needs votes from the region in the 2027 presidential election.
Featuring on AIT Focus Nigeria, the former presidential aide said Tinubu will have problems if he decides to jettison Shettima.
He pointed out that Tinubu became President on the strength of the Muslim-Muslim ticket, hence he can’t turn against Northern Muslims.
“Kashim Shettima’s problem is that he represents the North in this government whether we like it or not.
“The President is Nigeria’s President and is from the Southern part of the country, the Vice President is the VP of Nigeria from the Northern part of the country.
“So Shettima is the most senior Northerner in this government. If the President is unhappy with the working relationship and doesn’t think that Shettima is pulling his weight and wants somebody else, that’s a different thing.
“However, if he wants to drop him because he believes that the North represents a real problem and he has to tinker with faith in geography, then he has a problem.
“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.
“You go around looking for a Northern Christian, maybe a minority and say the Muslims don’t like me, so you guys line up as you are now my new allies.
“How many Northern Christians do you think will feel comfortable with a President who jettisoned a Vice President with the Muslim-Muslim ticket whom he won an election?
“The pointers appear to be that he thinks that the Northern Muslims have turned their backs on him and it’s possible he will also turn his back on them, and that will be a terrible miscalculation, not because the Northern Muslims can’t get him to lose but because the next thing he has to do is he needs a huge chunk of the North to come back as President,” Baba-Ahmed said.