…accuses President of destabilising political parties as only achievement in three years
Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Labour Party’s 2023 vice-presidential candidate, has declared that President Bola Tinubu should not handover to his former principal, Peter Obi, and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar in 2027.
Speaking on the MicOn Podcast on Saturday, Baba-Ahmed dismissed the viability of the current opposition lineup, insisting that the leading contenders share historical complicity in Nigeria’s prevailing crises through their past affiliations with successive governing administrations.
“I will simply advise uncle (Tinubu) to please prepare to hand over and move away, but not to the people contesting against him.”
“Because none of them will improve Nigeria. All those people contesting against him too were all in bed together at some point or another including Peter Obi. At some point, he was in PDP,” Baba-Ahmed said.
Tinubu, who is expected to seek a second term on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), faces competition from Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and Atiku of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Reiterating his call for a new Nigeria, the former lawmaker claimed to be the only major political figure untainted by association with past or current ruling parties.
He clarified that although he once belonged to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), he resigned before its merger into the APC and never held membership in the ruling party.
Turning his sights on the current administration, Baba-Ahmed heavily faulted President Tinubu’s tenure, asserting that the president has spent his time undermining the country’s multi-party democracy rather than delivering good governance.
“All he did in three years was to destroy political parties,” Baba-Ahmed stated, arguing that while Tinubu was given the mandate to steer the country, he must not seek to prolong his stay beyond the constitutionally allowed terms.
He also took aim at Atiku’s current criticisms of the president regarding controversial US records, questioning the former vice-president’s consistency and motives in pursuing the issue with renewed vigour only when politically convenient.