Details have emerged on Monday regarding the altercation that disrupted the North-East Consultative Meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gombe State on Sunday, as key political figures began to comment on the incident.
According to findings by Vanguard correspondent from reliable APC stakeholders in the North-East, it was reported that there had been underlying mistrust among the governors concerning who should succeed Vice President Kashim Shettima, amid growing speculation that President Bola Tinubu might not retain him as a running mate in the 2027 elections.
Sources revealed that while some opponents of Shettima’s continued role cited concerns over what they described as the shortcomings of the Muslim-Muslim ticket, others dismissed him as an uninspiring politician who had failed to speak out during critical moments.
Among those in that camp are individuals pushing for either the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, or another northern candidate to replace Shettima in the next election.
While the emerging opposition to Shettima was not widely known among party stakeholders, it had reportedly been a subject of discreet debate among the three APC governors from the region.
In a bid to prevent the internal disagreements from becoming public, the governors of Yobe, Gombe, and Borno were said to have held several meetings to manage the tensions. These meetings were reportedly aimed at ensuring that the discord surrounding Shettima’s position did not surface before, during, or after the Gombe gathering.
It was understood that the goal of the consultations was to present a united front, suggesting that stakeholders across the six North-East states were in full support of both President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Shettima’s re-election bid in 2027.