In Naija politics, what is not said is often louder than what is said.

What is not shown is often more powerful than what is shown.

And right now, a missing photograph is speaking volumes that no press statement, no party denial, and no diplomatic explanation has been able to silence.

The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Kashim Shettima, had his photograph removed from an APC banner. Not in some remote opposition state. Not at a hostile event. At an APC function. In Maiduguri. His own hometown. The city he governed for eight full years as Borno State Governor.

The banner displayed President Tinubu's image. It showed the five APC governors of the North-East. It even included the party's National Legal Adviser.

But the sitting Vice President of Nigeria? Missing.

And here's what makes it even more devastating: this was not the first time.

The Pattern That Cannot Be Explained Away

June 2025. Gombe State. APC North-East stakeholders' meeting.

The party's Zonal Vice Chairman, Mustapha Salihu, stepped up to endorse Tinubu for a second term. He spoke. He finished. He sat down.

He never mentioned Shettima's name once.

Then APC National Chairman Ganduje delivered his own closing remarks.

Also no mention of Shettima.

The hall erupted. Delegates from Borno began chanting "Shettima! Shettima!! Shettima!!!" Chairs were thrown. A supporter confronted Salihu on stage. The meeting collapsed in chaos. Some delegates warned openly: "No Shettima, No APC in the North-East."

Explanations followed. Salihu said he actually praised Shettima before the fracas. That the last paragraph of his speech was dedicated to him. That it was all a misunderstanding.

Nobody believed him.

Because Naija politics does not trade in misunderstandings. It trades in signals.

And then January 2026 arrived. The same pattern repeated itself, this time at the North-East Zonal Public Hearing on APC's constitutional amendment. In Maiduguri. On Shettima's home turf.

The Borno State House of Assembly Speaker, Abdulkarim Lawan, stood up at the event and publicly condemned the organisers. He pointed at the banner. He asked plainly: "How can the organisers exclude the picture of a sitting Vice President, who is from Borno and the North-East zone?"

The crowd erupted in applause.

Lawan connected the dots himself: "This is what created the fracas in Gombe, and it's repeating itself here in Borno. I don't know the motive of the organisers but it's not right."

He said it. Right there. In public. At an APC event.

Two incidents. Same pattern. Different states. Same zone. Same VP missing.

In Naija politics, you call that a coincidence once. You don't call it a coincidence twice.

Who Wants Shettima's Seat?

This is where it gets serious.

Sunday Punch reported that four northern governors, two each from the North-East and the North-West, alongside two principal officers of the 10th National Assembly, are already positioning themselves for the VP slot.

Four governors. Two principal officers. All eyeing one chair.

The same chair Shettima is currently sitting in.

Sources within the Presidency told Punch that the plot against Shettima is partly connected to the public criticisms of the Tinubu administration by Borno Governor Babagana Zulum and Senator Ali Ndume, both Shettima's political kinsmen. The argument is that Shettima cannot control his own people. That his Borno allies are becoming a liability. That their loose tongues are embarrassing the Presidency.

There is also a more cold-blooded calculation at play.

Sources told Naija News that those pushing against Shettima are motivated by 2031. "They know that the APC is returning power to the North in 2031. So they feel that if Shettima is allowed to do a second term with Tinubu, he will have an edge over other candidates from the North."

Read that again.

The plot against Shettima is not even about 2027. It's about 2031. These people are willing to destabilise Nigeria's second most powerful office today, just to reduce one man's head start for an election six years away.

This is Naija politics at its most ruthless. And most honest.

Can Tinubu Win the North Without a Muslim VP?

This is the question that everyone in APC's inner circle is quietly terrified of.

The North-Central APC Forum has already answered it, bluntly and publicly. In a statement by its Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, the forum said: "There is serious danger in changing a winning ticket." They argued that the communities pushing for a Christian VP largely voted Peter Obi in 2023. "If Peter Obi comes out again in 2027 on the platform of the ADC, what is the guarantee they will vote for Tinubu even if he drops Shettima and replaces him with a Christian?"

That is a devastating question. And nobody has answered it.

APC chieftain Abayomi Mumuni went further: "The northern region currently lacks a Christian candidate with the political structure, grassroots acceptance, and national reach needed to compensate for Shettima's electoral value."

He is right. And that brings us to the hardest question of all.

Which Northern Christian Can Replace Shettima?

Names have been floated. Let's examine them honestly.

Yakubu Dogara. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives. Christian from Bauchi State. A man with genuine political experience and cross-party credibility, having moved from APC to PDP and back. He has been mentioned openly. He even addressed the speculation, saying he was not pursuing the VP slot. In Naija politics, that is almost the same as confirming it. Dogara has name recognition. He has a national profile. But his political base is largely local to Bauchi and parts of the North-East. He has no proven ability to deliver votes on a presidential scale. He is credible. He is not transformative.

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah. Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese. A towering moral voice in Nigeria. A man respected by Christians and many Muslims alike for his outspokenness. He has been mentioned in political circles. But Kukah is a clergyman, not a politician. He has no party structure. No ward-level network. No gubernatorial or legislative experience. Mentioning him for VP is more wishful thinking than serious political strategy.

Simon Lalong. Former Governor of Plateau State. Christian from a predominantly Christian state in the North-Central. Was Tinubu's Director-General during the 2023 campaign. Now serving as a minister. He has shown loyalty to Tinubu. He has executive experience. He has some grassroots reach in Plateau and parts of the North-Central. Of all the Northern Christian names in circulation, Lalong has the most realistic political profile. But he is not a household name in the North-West or North-East, the zones with the heaviest voter concentration.

Here is the honest verdict.

None of these men, not Dogara, not Kukah, not Lalong, can replicate what Shettima brings to the ticket. Shettima is a two-term governor. A former senator. A man with deep personal networks across the entire North. A man whose base in Borno alone is formidable. A man who delivered for Tinubu in 2023 in territory where Tinubu had no natural support.

You do not replace that with a name.

You replace that with another Shettima. And another Shettima does not exist on that bench right now.

The Bottom Line: Someone Is Playing a Very Dangerous Game

APC has officially denied everything. Felix Morka, the party's National Publicity Secretary, called the reports "purely speculative, untrue, and utterly baseless." The Presidency's spokesman said Tinubu and Shettima work together very well. The Deputy National Chairman (North), Ali Bukar Dalori, said the Tinubu-Shettima ticket is "non-negotiable."

And yet.

Shettima's photo keeps disappearing from APC banners. In Gombe. Now in Maiduguri. His own city.

Someone is printing those banners. Someone approved those banners. Someone made the decision, twice, in two different states, to leave out the face of Nigeria's Vice President at his own party's events.

In Naija politics, nothing happens by accident. Not twice. Not in the same zone. Not with the same VP.

Someone is flying a kite. Someone is testing how high it will go before people pull it down. Someone is watching how many people protest, how many people stay quiet, and calculating what that means for 2027.

That someone has not been identified. That someone has not been punished. That someone is still inside APC, still printing banners, still sending signals.

And Shettima is watching. Quietly. Because in this game, the man who panics first, loses first.

The question now is whether Tinubu will douse this fire early, or let it burn until it scorches everyone around him.

Because if APC goes into 2027 with a fractured North-East, a VP whose loyalty is in question, and a ticket nobody fully believes in, the opposition does not need to win.

APC will simply hand them the election.

What do you think? Should Tinubu retain Shettima or is the Muslim-Muslim ticket genuinely a liability in 2027? And among the Northern Christian options, who actually has what it takes to complement Tinubu on the ballot? Drop your thoughts in the comments section. This Naija politics drama has only just started heating up.