A former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, and a former Nigerian Ambassador to the Philippines, Dr Yemi Farounbi, on Wednesday warned that it is dangerous to replace Vice President Kashim Shettima with the National Leader of New Nigeria Peoples Party, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, as the running mate to President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential elections.

There are speculations and reports that Kwankwaso will be brought into the All Progressives Congress (APC) to run on a joint ticket with President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

Reacting to the reports in chats with The Guardian in Ibadan, Shittu and Farounbi said it would be dangerous to replace Shettima with Kwankwaso.

The former minister warned that the replacement would cause the APC to lose votes in the Northeast region.

Shittu said, ”His coming to the APC is to support our president. He should not come to replace anyone. It will be dangerous to replace Rabiu Kwankwaso with Shettima. It will affect our votes in the North East. Kwankwaso can be supported to become President in 2031, not to replace Shettima.

Farounbi, on the other hand, warned that Kwankwaso’s presidential ambition would make it more dangerous to work with Tinubu, stating that the former governor of Kano State would not take a back seat in governance.

”Shettima is more controllable than Kwankwaso. Kwankwaso will not take a back seat in terms of governance, because he has presidential ambitions. Shettima is far better for Tinubu than Kwankwaso. I will say it is dangerous to replace Shettima with Kwankwaso,” the former envoy said.