Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the running mate of Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election, has observed that the opposition coalition, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is full of people with presidential ambitions.
The coalition consists of political bigwigs including former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, ex-Labour Party presidential candidate, Obi, former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, ex-Kaduna State governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, former Senate President David Mark, and numerous others.
Baba-Ahmed, speaking in an interview with Trust TV, explained that the ADC does not have a politician in the mould of Bola Tinubu that suppressed his presidential ambition to give a platform to the likes of Atiku in 2007 or former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
Noting that the coalition is full of options and resources, Datti Baba-Ahmed said the downside is that the coalition is also full of ambitions.
“Ambitions have to be reduced and have to be managed carefully for it to stand the test of time in the history of Nigeria’s politics,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed insisted that he has not seen a clear strategy from the coalition leaders that could defeat Tinubu. He stressed that his submissions are not a criticism of the coalition.
“If you do business as usual against a seating government like Tinubu’s, the person would not win” he noted, stressing that there is a need to think outside the box.
“To achieve an impossible feat, one truly need an impossible strategy,” the former presidential running mate stated.
Stressing that Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) understand how to defeat Atiku, he advised that the ADC should not present him for the presidential election in 2027.
He said, “If you bring 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.”
Baba-Ahmed advised that the ADC should present someone that can carry the day in the 2027 elections, as the APC did when Buhari emerged as the party’s presidential candidate in 2015.
