TheCable

Datti Baba-Ahmed, vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), says Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), will lose on Saturday.

The presidential election is billed to take place across the country on February 25.

Tinubu is one of the frontrunners in the race alongside Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of LP and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

Speaking in a Channels Television interview on Tuesday, Baba-Ahmed said Tinubu will be defeated because of the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC.

He said Tinubu, who could not become the vice-president of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, cannot foist a Muslim-Muslim pairing on Nigeria in 2023.

Datti said the “configuration” of the APC’s ticket will not work in present-day Nigeria.

He said it is only the LP that is “rightly configured” to win the presidential election and develop the country.

“Why today Tinubu is not the vice-president of Nigeria is the same reason he cannot be president,” he said.

“What couldn’t happen in 2015 when the then-candidate [President Muhammadu] Buhari asked for any nomination whatsoever from Tinubu, because that configuration has passed.

“It can no longer work in Nigeria — a Muslim-Muslim ticket cannot work anymore.”

Datti also said the LP will win in Lagos in spite of the influence of Tinubu in the state.

“By the grace of God, we have won Lagos, irrespective of Tinubu there. Are they going to come out and spread the people who are voting?” he said.

The LP vice-presidential candidate added that his party will have a “simple win” in Kaduna and Kano — but will find it difficult to win in Yobe and Zamfara.