Vice‑President Kashim Shettima will have to wait until the All Progressives Congress (APC) holds its convention next year to know whether President Bola Tinubu will choose him as his running mate for the 2027 presidential election.
This was disclosed by the spokesman of the president, Chief Bayo Onanuga during an interview on Thursday.
While responding to a question on why the presidency has remained mum amid growing controversy over the omission of Vice President Kashim Shettima from a wave of endorsements for Tinubu, Onanuga debunked suggestions that the silence amounted to tacit approval of the vice president’s exclusion.
“When I read the report, I dismissed it as a non‑issue. In a presidential system, the candidate emerges first and then selects a running mate. That’s what happened under Buhari—he was nominated first and later picked his running mate. You don’t do both at once.
“Once INEC releases the timetable, the party convention will hold, and if the president is nominated again, he will choose his running mate,” he said.
Chief Onanuga dismissed suggestions that President Bola Tinubu’s two changes of deputy while Lagos governor foreshadow a plan to drop Shettima in 2027.
“That’s just speculation. Yes, when he was governor, there were issues. In his first term, he and his deputy, Kofo, didn’t get along, and she had to leave. Femi Pedro replaced her. In the second term, he retained Pedro, but Pedro later defected—he wanted to be governor. That’s why he had to go. I don’t want to reopen old wounds, but that’s what happened.
“So, it’s wrong to say he has a pattern of discarding deputies. There were specific political circumstances each time. That’s what I’m explaining,” he said.
The spokesman also refuted rumours of friction between the president and his deputy.
“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. People even say ridiculous things like Seyi Tinubu is the vice president—absolute nonsense.
“In this country, deputy roles—whether deputy governor or vice president—are always surrounded by rumours. Even when there’s no conflict, people around them will concoct stories. But as far as I know, Tinubu and Shettima work together very well,” he said.