President Bola Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) will win the 2027 presidential elections if the president adopts Vice President Kashim Shettima as his running mate, an APC chieftain, Haruna Yerima, has said.

Mr Yerima, a former House of Representatives member, said this while reacting to a statement credited to the Northern Ethnic Nationality Forum in Abuja on Saturday.

The group urged Mr Tinubu to drop Mr Shettima and avoid repeating the Muslim-Muslim ticket.

According to the group, Mr Tinubu must pick a Christian from the Plateau, Benue, and Taraba states to allay the fears of Islamisation agenda by Mr Tinubu’s presidency.

It added that retaining the Muslim-Muslim ticket would give the opposition a ready campaign

Mr Yerima, however, said it was fallacy and unfounded to make such a statement.

“The claim that the APC may lose the 2027 presidential elections if President Bola Tinubu adopts Vice President Kashim Shettima as his running mate is insane and unfounded,” he said.

According to him, the insinuation that Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi’s ticket would defeat that of Tinubu/Shettima is a jaundiced and amateur political permutation without any empirical backing.

“We dismiss this statement by one Dominic Alancha of a faceless organisation, Northern Ethnic Nationality Forum, who urged President Tinubu to drop Sen. Shettima and avoid repeating the Muslim-Muslim ticket.”

The don said the group got “all its facts wrong because the issue of the Islamisation agenda has been disputed by the Tinubu’s presidency through its dynamic and policy of inclusion.”

“In the last two years of President Bola Tinubu’s presidency, all doubting Thomases that the APC administration is not tilted to any religious group. It is appalling why that faceless group is trying to reincarnate a forgotten issue.

“The claim that the opposition would dethrone President Tinubu if he adopts Senator Shettima in 2027 is another fallacy that is without any shred of truth or evidence.

“Vice President Kashim Shettima was chosen by President Bola Tinubu after thorough consideration of various factors. Any attempt to impose a running mate on President Tinubu would not only backfire but would be met by outright rejection by the president himself.

“President Tinubu is not a political neophyte that some dubious politicians would hide under a mushroom ethnic group to push for an unsaleable agenda.”

The former lawmaker cautioned against mixing religion with politics, explaining that “it is puzzling that some people are driving faith-based sentiments on issues that are strictly loyalty and competence-based.

“Sen. Shettima has been diligently fulfilling the roles assigned to him by his principal with all diligence, competence, and dedication.”

(NAN)