The presidency is in a fix as to the options to adopt in dealing with the issue of the running mate to President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections, sources within the ruling party have said.

Investigations by the Nigerian Tribune confirmed over the weekend that Aso Rock insiders are torn between the different options being bandied as possible ways out of the challenge.

It was learnt that though there are no open outbursts between President Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, sources said that the Tinubu camp had resolved more than a year ago that the president would not seek election alongside the vice-president.

While the reason for such remains unclear, with sources indicating that the issues may be located between political and other considerations, it was learnt that the vice-president had continued to dig in by not giving space to his traducers.

One source said that the Tinubu camp is worried that if Shettima is retained as the vice-president in 2027, it might become too difficult to replace him with another candidate as the successor in 2031.

It was gathered that even if Tinubu is compelled by circumstances to keep Shettima, he would prefer another northerner as his successor in 2031.

At one stage, it was touted that Tinubu would need to ensure religious balance in the presidential ticket to dilute the kind of protest votes that threw up Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party in the 2023 election.

However, some other sources have insisted that the failure to raise a “formidable Northern Christian politician” is a threat to that indication. That thinking was also helped, to some extent, by the resolve of the United States, which called for religious balance in the upper echelons of Nigeria’s power system during its recent interactions with the government.

While some party insiders have said that the Muslim-Muslim ticket is the issue, others have insisted that for the president to win, he still has to go to the North-East to pick a running mate.

It was, if the president should stick to that thinking, the space would only be open for the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, a Christian from Bauchi State, whose main constraint is the fact that he hails from the minority segment of the state. Insiders were said to have argued that a Christian minority from the North would be unable to mobilise the massive votes needed there.

The Nigerian Tribune was further told that though President Tinubu is believed to have his eyes on another Muslim from the North-East, he is also weighing the option of replacing Shettima with the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, seen as a well-accepted professional across the North.

“The issue is that the Kanuris are united around the vice-president. The problem is that no one has been able to point out his offence in the Villa, so far, and so, his supporters are unable to apportion any blame,” a source said, adding that the Shettima question remains a knotty one ahead of the primaries.

Another source said that the kind of silence that pervades the political setting is traceable to the headaches the All Progressives Congress (APC) is having over the Shettima issue, adding that the vice-president is fully aware of the plot against him.

As a result of the misgivings within the Party, the camp of the vice-president is not at ease with the office of the national chairman of the party, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, who has also been mentioned as a possible replacement for the vice-president.

“There are issues we have left under the table”, a source said, adding that despite the fact that the party has been able to harness 30 governors in its camp, the leaders are still maintaining cautious bounce. (Nigerian Tribune)

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