National vice-chairman (north-east) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mustapha Salihu, has said that his endorsement of President Bola Tinubu for a second term without mentioning Vice-President Kashim Shettima doesn’t go against the party’s constitution.
Recall that the APC stakeholders’ summit held on Sunday in Gombe recently went south after various speakers supported Tinubu for the 2027 election, but excluded Shettima from the proposed ticket.
Speaking during an appearance on Channel TV’s Politics Today with Seun Okinbaloye, Salihu disclosed that no party constitution allows a candidate to go into the primary with a running mate.
Reacting to backlash from attendees after omitting Kashim Shettima’s name, he stated that the APC structure strictly gives the presidential ticket to its chosen candidate, and then the selected politician reserves the right to choose his running mate ahead of the elections.
“In party politics, we have only one ticket for the executive [arms of government]: for the local government chairman, the governor and the president.
No party constitution allows a candidate to go into the primary with a running mate. Only one ticket that is for the president. It is only after the president becomes a candidate that he will pick a running mate, which will be his prerogative,” he said.
After Mustapha Salihu’s removal from the event, Ali Bukar, the deputy national chairman, took the stage and publicly endorsed both Tinubu and Shettima for re-election in 2027.
