President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima are reportedly on good terms, contrary to claims of a rift between them
An APC chieftain and former member of the party’s Board of Trustees, Ismaeel Ahmed, who addressed the issue.
Ahmed would be the second insider to speak out, following the disclosure by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former presidential aide who recently resigned from President Tinubu’s administration. …CONTINUE READING
Ismaeel Ahmed, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former member of the party’s Board of Trustees, dismissed the allegation of a rift between President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television programmes on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, Ahmed described the claim as ‘malicious rumours’, stating that the report lacks substance as the two leaders enjoy a cordial relationship.
His comment reads in part: “It’s (friction) not true. I know it very well. Who is ever in a 100 per cent relationship with anyone? There is trust between President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima. We are trying to create an issue where there is none.”
He further dismissed all the claims as mere rumours and expressed confidence that there had been no discussions about substituting the Vice President in 2027, nor any attempt to block him from accessing the Presidential Villa.
The APC chieftain asserted that the rumours were being spread by malicious individuals who have no understanding of what is happening within the presidency, or how it operates.
Here is the video of Ahmed’s interview:
The first was Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former presidential aide, who recently resigned from the administration of President Tinubu.
He disclosed that there was no rift between the president and Vice President Kashim Shettima. Baba-Ahmed, who served as special adviser to the president on political matters in the office of the vice president, said he did not notice any rift between Tinubu and Shettima when he was serving in that office.
The former presidential aide’s comment was a response to the question that there were reports plotting around that Vice President Shettima was being steadily and systematically isolated by the Tinubu clique of supporters in the presidency
The alleged rift between Tinubu and Shettima became headlines amid the plot by the opposition leaders, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Kaduna and Rivers governors Nasir El-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi, to sack the ruling APC in the 2027 election through a coalition movement.
