The Office of the Vice President has clarified Vice President Kashim Shettima’s comments about the support President Bola Tinubu received from northern governors ahead of the 2022 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary.
In a statement on Thursday, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications in the Office of the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, said Shettima’s reference to six northern governors who “believed in and supported” Tinubu was specifically about political consultations and alignments before the APC primary in June 2022.
The clarification followed Shettima’s remarks on Wednesday at the palace of the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, where he said only six of the 19 northern governors had “believed and supported” Tinubu.
Nkwocha explained that the Vice President was referring to the period before the APC primary and that his remarks should not be interpreted as suggesting that northern APC governors failed to support Tinubu after he emerged as the party’s presidential candidate.
The Vice President’s office said Shettima holds the northern governors and other APC leaders in high regard and recognises their individual and collective contributions to the party’s success and Tinubu’s emergence as its candidate.
Only six APC governors from the 19 northern states supported President Tinubu to get the APC presidential ticket in 2023.
– Vice President Kashim Shettima revealed at the turbaning of Governor Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq as the Sardauna of Ilorin in Kwara State pic.twitter.com/jrGUfkiYNQ
— Nigerian Affairs Journal (@NigAffairs) September 16, 2026
