Amid permutations and early moves regarding Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election in 2027, Vice President Kashim Shettima has playfully warned former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

Shettima urged Atiku Abubakar to expect more verbal sparring from him as the 2027 general elections approach.

The VP made this assertion at a symposium in Abuja, where he was honouring dignitaries, including Atiku, at the 60th birthday celebration of Kayode Fayemi, former governor of Ekiti state.

VP Shettima jokingly referred to himself as an “adjunct provocateur” who took “hot shots” at Atiku during the 2023 presidential election.

OSG reported that Atiku, the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was defeated by Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the 2023 election.

Tinubu polled 8,794,726 to defeat his closest rivals, Atiku, who scored 6,984,520 and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) who scored 6,101,533.

However, on Thursday, Shettima acknowledged that Atiku, as an elder statesman, had taken the criticisms in stride. Interestingly, Shettima revealed that he affectionately addresses Atiku as “Baba” (meaning “father” in Hausa) in private conversations.

Despite this warm gesture, Shettima teased that Atiku should prepare for more verbal jabs from him in the future. As reported by PM News, the audience found this exchange amusing, with Atiku himself cracking a smile.

2027: Atiku meets APC bigwig in Abuja

In another development, it was reported that PDP’s Atiku Abubakar on Monday, February 3, 2025, paid a visit to APC’s Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, popularly known as Binani.

Recall that Binani is an entrepreneur who was the senator for Adamawa Central from 2019 to 2023, and she ran for the governorship of Adamawa State in 2023 but lost to PDP’s Ahmadu Finitiri.

In the 2023 Adamawa state governorship election, Binani lost to Governor Ahmadu Finitiri in an election that was keenly monitored by Nigerians.