Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Labour Party’s vice-presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, has warned the African Democratic Congress (ADC) coalition against fielding a predictable flagbearer like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for the 2027 presidential race.
Speaking in an interview with Trust TV, Baba-Ahmed cautioned that Atiku has become too familiar a candidate for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), adding that the party already knows “how to work against Atiku.”
“If you bring out Atiku, they know how to work against Atiku, and he is welcome to win; if he wins, we will support him. You need that candidate; they can’t understand, they don’t know where to catch, that is how to win an election,” he said.
The former lawmaker from Kaduna argued that what the opposition needs is a candidate who remains politically elusive and difficult to defeat—someone whose strategy cannot be anticipated or dismantled by the APC’s long-standing political machinery.
Reflecting on Tinubu’s rise to power, Baba-Ahmed described him as a long-term strategist who waited patiently for 16 years to actualize his presidential ambition. He noted that no current figure in the opposition coalition has shown that level of foresight or discipline.
READ MORE: APC Must Go, Nigerians Deserve Better – Datti Baba-Ahmed Declares
“Any coalition that is coming together has to realize how powerful this individual called Tinubu is. Somebody who schemed for 16 years to take it one day. He has done what nobody has done, and I don’t see among our own coalition now somebody who is able to plan or scheme for 16 years,” he said.
He took a veiled swipe at Atiku’s repeated attempts at the presidency, questioning whether any other opposition leader would step aside and back another candidate selflessly.
“With due respect to Atiku, Atiku consistently contested all the last six; this will be the seventh one without let or hindrance. Tell me who from across the divide would stand up and say it must be that other individual that must be the president, and I will take over from him after eight years,” Baba-Ahmed added.
Baba-Ahmed has been vocal about his support for Peter Obi as the coalition’s most formidable candidate heading into the 2027 general election.
READ MORE: If Tinubu Is A Smart Politician, He Should Not Contest in 2027 Election —Datti Baba-Ahmed
In a separate interview, he argued that Obi’s 2023 performance makes him more than qualified to lead the coalition as a presidential candidate and not as a vice-presidential hopeful.
“The position of VP is very big. Anyway, I wanted to be, and I was rigged out. But I think Peter Obi should not be a VP, having gotten a disputed 10 million votes,” Baba-Ahmed said.
He further dismissed the narrative that only a broad opposition alliance can unseat Tinubu and the APC in 2027. According to him, the Labour Party’s strong showing in the 2023 election proved otherwise.
“It’s all about a narrative that was sold out to Nigeria very quickly, that to defeat Tinubu, it has to be a coalition. The coalition is good, but in 2023, we defeated the APC and PDP. There was no coalition in the Labour Party,” he declared
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