Peter Obi’s running mate in the 2023 presidential election, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has urged the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to declare a presidential candidate that will be impossible for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to defeat in the 2027 election.
This is coming amid rumours that the ADC might present Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as its 2027 presidential candidate.
Speaking during an interview with Trust TV, Baba-Ahmed said that President Bola Tinubu and the ruling party are already familiar with Atiku’s political games, so it will be easy to defeat him again.
According to him, after conquering Atiku in two presidential elections already, Tinubu knows the buttons to press to emerge victorious against an opposition he is already used to.
He advised the coalition to realise how powerful Tinubu is when it comes to devising plans to dismantle his opponents.
“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.
Baba-Ahmed further noted that he is yet to see any politician in the coalition who can plan for 16 years or abandon their political ambitions for another person, as Tinubu did for former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
Stressing that Peter Obi’s performance in the 2023 election makes him deserving of the ADC’s presidential ticket, he stated that the Labour Party man is a better choice than Atiku.
He concluded by disagreeing with the narrative that only the coalition of opposition politicians can defeat President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Any coalition that is coming together has to realise how powerful this individual called Tinubu is.
With due respect to Atiku, Atiku consistently contested, all the last six, this will be the seventh one without let or hinderance, 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 year. I’m yet to see that person. Others are also interested in their own candidacy, in their own presidency, but what did Tinubu do?
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.
It’s all about a narrative that was sold out to Nigeria very quickly, that to defeat Tinubu, it has to be a coalition. Coalition is good, but in 2023 we defeated APC, PDP. There was no coalition in Labor Party,” he added.
