The vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in 2023, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, had said that none of President Bola Tinubu’s opponents in the 2027 election can improve Nigeria.
Tinubu, who is seeking a second term in office, is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
His major opponents in the election, scheduled for next January, are Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
While speaking on the MicOn Podcast on Saturday, Baba-Ahmed, who was Obi’s running mate in the 2023 election, said none of the leading candidates for 2027 has the capacity to move the country forward.
He said the former governor of Anambra and the other contenders are among the breed of politicians who brought Nigeria to its current state.
“I will simply advise uncle (Tinubu) to please prepare to hand over and move away, but not to the people contesting against him,” he said.
“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.”
The former lawmaker said he is calling for a “new Nigeria”, noting that he is the only politician who has never been a member of a ruling party.
“Tell me one politician who has never been in a ruling party. I’m the one. Have I ever been in a ruling party?” he said.
Baba-Ahmed said that although he was a member of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), he resigned before it merged with other parties to form the APC.
“I have never been in a ruling party. When I was in CPC, it was a little opposition party,” he said.
“I never had an APC membership card.”
Baba-Ahmed also weighed in on the controversy over the president’s records in the United States.
He queried why Atiku was “at the forefront of tormenting” Tinubu over his records when he had been quiet about the matter in the past.
The former vice-presidential candidate added that Tinubu has been given an opportunity to lead but should not seek to extend his stay in power.
Baba-Ahmed said Tinubu has “qualified himself for divine intervention,” accusing the president of turning the country against political parties.
“All he did in three years was to destroy political parties,” he said.
