The Presidency has clarified that President Bola Tinubu will select his running mate for the 2027 election only after formally accepting the APC’s nomination at the party convention in 2026, dismissing speculation about Vice President Kashim Shettima’s position as premature.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Trust, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga addressed recent controversies surrounding Shettima’s omission from Tinubu endorsement events.
“When I read the report, I dismissed it as a non-issue,” Onanuga stated. “In a presidential system, the candidate emerges first and then selects a running mate. That’s what happened under Buhari.”
The presidential aide pushed back against comparisons to Tinubu’s tenure as Lagos governor, where he worked with three different deputies. “That’s just speculation,” Onanuga explained, detailing how political circumstances – not personal patterns – led to those changes.
“It’s wrong to say he has a pattern of discarding deputies. There were specific political circumstances each time.”
Onanuga strongly denied rumors of tension between Tinubu and Shettima: “I’m not aware of any issues between the president and the vice president. From what I know, they have an excellent working relationship. All the speculation is just beer parlour gossip.”
When questioned about potentially repeating the Muslim-Muslim ticket strategy, Onanuga argued the religious composition of the ticket had become a non-issue: “Christians are living their lives. The president even attended the Pope’s inauguration in Rome. There’s nothing to worry about.”
The presidential spokesman defended recent premature endorsements for Tinubu as a necessary counter to opposition activity: “The endorsements are a reaction to something. If those in the so-called coalition had not started throwing missiles at the Tinubu administration and the APC, the APC would have waited until early next year to respond.”
Onanuga emphasized that while the campaign period hasn’t officially opened, the APC couldn’t remain passive, stressing: “You can’t expect the president to sit by while his opponents are plotting openly against him.”
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