A prominent Lagos-based lawyer, Muhammad Adam, has tipped Nuhu Ribadu, national security adviser (NSA), to succeed President Bola Tinubu.
According to Adam, President Tinubu will complete two terms in office.
The legal practitioner predicted that Ribadu — and not Vice-President Kashim Shettima — will take over from President Tinubu in 2031.
Quote-tweeting a picture post on Friday, September 5, Adam wrote:
"Next President after PBAT.
"I’ll be back to this post in 2031, InshaAllah."
Next President after PBAT.
— Foundational Nupe Lawyer (@egi_nupe___) September 5, 2025
I’ll be back to this post in 2031, InshaAllah. https://t.co/PJtO7Gn9wX
Nuhu Ribadu's rising profile
Mallam Ribadu has emerged one of President Tinubu's most trusted allies. The 64-year-old has remained close to Tinubu, accompanying the president to top local events.
The NSA and Senator Shettima are the most prominent people in the north whose elites have become habituated to being in power.
Farooq Kperogi, a professor at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, told The Africa Report in a publication in early 2025 that "there is a perception in the north that Ribadu is more ensconced in the political orbit of presidential power than the vice president."
Abimbola Adelakun, a columnist and an associate professor at the University of Texas, Austin, spoke in the same vein.
He said: “Ribadu probably imagines the presidency will go back to the north after Tinubu and he will be in the right place at the right time.”
Ribadu in 2011 contested the presidency with the support of Tinubu and lost. He defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2014 where he contested for governor of Adamawa state and lost. He returned to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2016 and contested again but was defeated at the primary in 2022.
