The vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP in the 2023 general elections, Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed has expressed misgivings about the new political coalition which on Wednesday adopted the African Democratic Congress, ADC as its platform for 2027 electoral contest, cautioning the gladiators against being consumed by the excitement.
Baba-Ahmed, who appeared not comfortable with his former principal joining the coalition, said he has not left the Labour Party, stressing that the party deserved better than being walked away from.
Dismissing the narrative that only a coalition could unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027, when he appeared on Arise Prime Time on Thursday, Baba-Ahmed insisted that “A clean political party fielding the right candidate will beat APC hands down even in the presence of a coalition”.
Wary of what would be the aftermath of the struggle for the ADC presidential ticket, especially with the ambitions of three front-runners like former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers State governor and ex-minister, as well as Peter Obi, former candidate of the LP in the 2023 polls, Baba-Ahmed wondered if Obi and Amaechi would still remain in the coalition if Atiku won, especially “knowing how Atiku does primaries”.
He said, “This underscores why I say we should not be misled or consumed by this excitement because as they say in English, when the chips are down, and it’s time to do primary, what kind of primary is Atiku going to do with an Amaechi. You know how Atiku does primaries; mercilessly. I remember those dollars flying, we were in the same coalition. But in Port Harcourt, I remember the dollars flying. What kind of primaries are they going to do? Am I going to deceive myself that all is going to be well in this ADC?”.
Asserting that “the beginning of good governance is if you ran good primaries”, the former vice-presidential candidate said for him to support Atiku or Amaechi if they emerged ADC candidate, first of all, he needed to see “a very clean, very transparent primaries taking place”.
He said while he was considering the coalition, he advised against playing “Tinubu’s game”.
According to him, “I am considering the coalition who have adopted ADC. Now, don’t be consumed by the excitement but manage the excitement. Right now, it’s all about excitement, understandably so because Nigerians are depressed as much as they are oppressed. So, this excitement can easily consume everyone, and what I am saying is hold back, think critically; think very well.
“The opposition is right in all that it is doing. I agree wholeheartedly in coming together – the principles behind it, the objectives of it are all correct. But you are also playing somebody else’s game. This game is Tinubu’s game. And I am not praising him in any way whatsoever, but everyone must understand the situation as it were”.
Going down memory lane how Tinubu forged the coalition that culminated in the forming of the APC, and how he eventually made General Muhammadu Buhari president after three failed attempts with the understanding that after him it would be his turn, Baba-Ahmed noted that the “coalition now is playing the script of Tinubu. I believe in the coalition, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t have to play the game the way he did”.
Pointing out what he called the “structural misgivings” in the coalition as it were today, he said there is no Buhari, a “distant anointed”, or a Tinubu, “the convener”, in this coalition “so, there would be a very close gap, there would be a very tight struggle, possibly, not so clean primaries; struggle for it”.
Concerned about these misgivings, he said he really wanted to bring Peter Obi back on the negotiation table with the leadership of the LP. “I wanted everything sorted out; for him to remain. If I have a chance, I will still do it. Technically speaking, being in the ADC coalition does not mean you have left your party. Refer to the meeting of Tuesday night, and the communique issued after that meeting, it doesn’t say you have left your own political party.
“Labour Party does not deserve being walked away from. Labour Party deserves better than being walked away from. Despite all misgivings, this is a party I think that scored by our own count, over 10 million votes. This is a party that defeated APC and PDP together irrespective of what the law courts said”.
Ruling out the possibility of Obi running as vice-presidential candidate, Baba-Ahmed said “In 2027, the default position is that the ticket should go to the South. So, if Atiku takes it, how will Amaechi and Peter Obi take it?
“Now, for the Peter Obi and Atiku, together, they were either rigged out or defeated in 2019. Apart, they were either rigged out or defeated in 2023. You come back together, hey guys, what are you playing with? Is it a joke? And the way I take Peter Obi, I think Peter Obi should not be a VP having gotten disputed 10 million votes.
“It is all about a narrative that was sold out to Nigerians that to defeat Tinubu, it has to be a coalition. Coalition is good, but when in 2023 we defeated APC, PDP, there was no coalition in Labour Party. The real coalition we need is of votes at the ballot box. You protect them all the way to declaration.
“In reality, what you need at the votes is for a credible candidate for a credible ticket. There is no law, there is no principle that says it must be a coalition”.
He said his attraction in the ADC and the coalition is the coming together “especially to chase out the APC”.
Baba-Ahmed imagined a scenario whereby “for example, if (Nyesom) Wike were to finish destroying the PDP and leave, PDP could go and join this coalition. And later if Labour Party decides they are inspired to join the coalition, they are very well welcome to join. That is why it’s called a coalition. When they join the coalition, then they will say our platform is ADC”.
He however posited that Labour Party, would not want to take the risk of letting Tinubu win again.