Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former political adviser to President Bola Tinubu, has criticized the President for remaining silent amid ongoing rumours that he intends to replace Vice President Kashim Shettima ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Despite the election being two years away, speculation has persisted regarding an alleged plan to remove Shettima from the ticket.

Back in June, Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga dismissed the rumours, describing them as a “non-issue” and emphasizing that Tinubu would only decide on a running mate after securing the All Progressives Congress (APC) nomination.

However, during an interview on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme aired Wednesday, Baba-Ahmed insisted that if the rumours were baseless, the President himself should have publicly refuted them.

“I’m really curious about what’s fueling these stories about dropping Shettima,” he said. “Frankly, the President should have addressed this issue long ago.”

Baba-Ahmed argued that Tinubu could have easily dispelled the speculation with a straightforward message affirming his trust in the Vice President.

“If there’s truly no substance to claims about replacing Shettima with another northern figure—perhaps a Christian or someone from another region—it would have taken just one clear statement from the President: ‘This is nonsense. I fully support my Vice President, I work well with him, and I’m satisfied with our partnership. These rumours must end now and in the future,’” he said.

He added, “The President could have also made it clear that decisions about the 2027 election will come in due time, and that the focus now is on governance. But he didn’t say that. His aides didn’t say that either.”

“It’s troubling,” Baba-Ahmed concluded. “If the President truly feels this way, he should have voiced it—clearly, directly, and emphatically.”