Datti Baba-Ahmed, vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, says the opposition coalition must do the unthinkable to wrest power from President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.
Opposition politicians seeking to unseat the president on Wednesday unveiled the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the platform to rally votes against Tinubu in the next elections.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; Rotimi Amaechi, a former transportation minister; Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the LP in the 2023 elections; and Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, are at the forefront of the campaign to sack Tinubu from the State House.
Speaking in an interview with Trust TV, Baba-Ahmed described Tinubu as a phenomenon who waited for 16 years to become Nigerian president.
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He noted that none of those in the coalition is willing to sacrifice their political ambition for the good of Nigeria.
“I don’t yet see anyone in this coalition who can scheme and plan over 16 years. With all due respect to Atiku, he has contested consistently—this will be the seventh time,” Baba-Ahmed said.
‘But tell me: is there anyone else in the coalition who will say, ‘Let it be the other person, and I will support them’? I’m yet to see that. Everyone seems only interested in their candidacy.”
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Baba-Ahmed said Tinubu invested in former President Muhammadu Buhari and succeeded him.
“He stayed committed for 16 years and took it in 2023,” he said.
“Tinubu gave Atiku the ACN in 2007. Gave it to Ribadu in 2011. Backed Buhari in 2015. And waited until 2023 to take it himself. I’m saying: to defeat this phenomenon called Tinubu, you must do the unthinkable.
“If this coalition—which I recognise—thinks it’s business as usual, it won’t work. It has to be less about individual ambition and more about Nigeria. More action, less talk. Because talk is cheap.”
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