Chaos broke out at the meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders in the North- East, on Sunday, after Comrade Mustapha Salihu, National Vice Chairman of the ruling party in the zone, failed to mention the name of Vice-President Kashim Shettima while endorsing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term.
Also, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), narrowly escaped the mob’s attack, when he repeated the line of thought in his own subsequent speech.
The meeting held at the Gombe State Government House.
In attendance were ministers, lawmakers, governors and key stakeholders of the party from the region.
National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, also led some key personalities to the event.
When it was the turn of Salihu to speak, he endorsed Tinubu to emerge as an unopposed candidate of the APC but was silent about Shettima.
The moment he finished his speech, delegates at the forum started to hurl insults at him, with some threatening to attack him physically.
Quickly, he was escorted out of the meeting by security operatives.
Subsequently, in order to calm frayed nerves, the Deputy National Chairman of the party, Bukar Dalori, endorsed both Tinubu and Shettima for a second term.
Shettima is from Borno, one of the states in the North-East region.
The meeting ended abruptly after the National Chairman, Ganduje, went on to announced the endorsement of Tinubu alone, without Shettima.
While making his speech, which lasted about 10 minutes, Ganduje kept quiet about Shettima fate.
Videos shared on social media captured delegates hurling insults and attempting to storm the stage, forcing security personnel to whisk Ganduje to safety amid a barrage of thrown objects.
The North-East contributed over 1.2 million votes to the Muslim-Muslim Tinubu-Shettima ticket in 2023.
Shettima’s allies view the omission as a deliberate attempt to sideline the VP, fuelling speculation of internal power struggles.
While Deputy National Chairman Bukar Dalori later reaffirmed support for both Tinubu and Shettima, the damage was done, with some delegates accusing Ganduje of betraying the region’s interests.
