APC is now a political refugee camp, says Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, former political adviser in the presidency, has described the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a “political refugee camp”.

Baba-Ahmed spoke on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television, on Thursday.

He said the ruling party is being overwhelmed by defectors who are either chasing political positions or fleeing from prosecution.

“With all this party bulging with people running away from prosecution, people looking for offices, the APC is growing with a lot of the wrong people,” he said.

“All these defections are informed by only one thing, they’re looking for positions or they’re running away from EFCC.

“But I’m telling you, the people who are running into the APC from all over the place are actually a liability to the APC. It’s just simply a refugee camp… political refugee camp, and it will burst.”

‘ATIKU SHOULD QUIT 2027 RACE’

He also advised Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023, to step aside for a younger aspirant, ahead of the 2027 poll.

“If I have a chance to sit with the Waziri of Adamawa, I would say to him, ‘Sir, you’ve done your bit. You’ve held up the democratic process. You represented it well,” he said.

“Your name has been written in gold. You’ve been persistent. It’s time to yield the ground, to yield the position to a younger person. Don’t run, play the father role.”

He added that the PDP risks losing another election if it fields a candidate with baggage.

“I’m advising them against what appears to be what they want,” Baba-Ahmed said.

“And I’m trying to point out to them, actually, the truth about it is, if PDP were to field a younger person, more capable, somebody with less skeletons in their cupboard, somebody with less liabilities, age and health and everything, believe me, they will take APC to the cleaners.”