Vice President Kashim Shettima has declared that internal division and factional friction within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) pose a far greater threat to the party’s prospects in the 2027 general elections than any challenge posed by opposition political parties. ​
Speaking on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, during the inauguration of the APC Presidential Campaign Council at the Ladi Kwali Hall, Abuja Continental Hotel, the Vice President emphasized that a unified political house remains the single most critical factor for electoral success. ​
Addressing party leaders, state governors, National Assembly members, and political stalwarts gathered at the venue, Shettima warned against internal squabbles and factional power struggles. ​”A fractured party may produce a candidate, but only a united party can produce victory,” Shettima cautioned.
“Even in the most spirited family, the roof must never be pulled down because one room appears warmer than another. If we pull down the roof of our political house in anger, nobody will be spared by the storm.” ​He noted that while opposition platforms, including the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), continue to struggle with coalition efforts and internal cohesion, the APC must avoid self-inflicted wounds driven by local primaries and supremacy battles ahead of 2027. ​
In his address, Vice President Shettima also dismissed the economic alternatives proposed by major opposition figures, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party candidate Peter Obi. ​Highlighting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s macro-economic adjustments and structural reforms, Shettima asserted that Nigeria’s complex demographic and institutional landscape cannot be managed using borrowed models. ​
“A country of over 250 million people cannot be governed through borrowed statistics and economic prescriptions detached from its unique peculiarities,” he stated. ​Reaffirming the party’s alignment, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, confirmed in a statement following the event that the Vice President’s remarks served as a strategic charge to the newly inaugurated campaign council. ​
Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, highlighted that party organs are actively engaged in reconciliation frameworks across all six geopolitical zones to resolve grievances stemming from local ward and state congresses.
​The event concluded with a call to party loyalists to engage in constructive campaign activities, defend administration policies with factual evidence, and prioritize party unity above individual political ambitions as preparations for the 2027 polls accelerate.
