Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, the 2023 vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party and running mate to Peter Obi, has dismissed the coalition-backed African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a grand deception, alleging that many of those who ruined Nigeria under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari are now seeking refuge in the party ahead of the 2027 elections.
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Speaking in a late Friday interview on Channels TV monitored in Abuja, Baba-Ahmed said Nigeria’s fundamental problems are rooted in flawed leadership recruitment processes that have consistently produced corrupt and self-serving politicians.
According to him, electoral fraud has been the breeding ground for insecurity, corruption, and the collapse of national institutions.
“Insecurity is derived from electoral fraud. Corruption is aggravated by the kind of elections we conduct. The destruction of our youth and our judiciary is guaranteed by the fraudulent electoral system we run,” he declared.
The former senator also criticized the Buhari years. When reminded that some of those who served in the Buhari administration are now in the ADC masquerading as Nigeria’s potential saviours, he pointed out that the late former president himself had served in the corruption-ridden General Sani Abacha regime.
He noted that Nigeria is still recovering money looted during the Abacha administration. Baba-Ahmed said Nigerians were grossly disappointed after placing enormous expectations on Buhari, describing his government as one of the most corrupt in Nigeria’s history.
Speaking about the Abacha regime, in which Buhari served as Chairman of the now-defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), Baba-Ahmed said Nigerians felt betrayed.
“Nigerians were absolutely disappointed. He (Buhari) was a gentleman who had no trade to his name. So the first thing to do after coming out of detention and everything was politics. During the Abacha time, the archenemy of Abacha became friends with this one, got an appointment, and when he got that appointment, it was a different story from the leadership of 1984/’85. There was no longer truth. There was no longer justice. It was corruption and corruption and corruption.
“Everybody knows how corrupt that (Abacha) government was. Up till now, money is still being recovered by the federal government as stolen during that period. Those who came to power in 2015 were like wolves. Corruption started afresh, and the whole system was about party and campaign contributions.”
Baba-Ahmed alleged that the political “ecosystem” around Buhari had always been motivated by self-interest rather than service.
“From 2003 to 2015, it was all about campaign contributions. Without party money, the ecosystem around him would starve. The ecosystem was about party contributions. It happened again in 2007, 2011, and then 2015. So when they got power, they were like wolves,” he said.
On the defection of some former Buhari allies to the ADC, Baba-Ahmed was unequivocal: “They are deceiving us. The ADC is a deception. Those who ruined Nigeria between 2015 and 2023 cannot now come under a new platform and claim they want to fix the country.”
He insisted that he remains firmly in the Labour Party and loyal to Peter Obi. “I am in the Labour Party, for God’s sake. I am a Peter Obi man, and I want him to contest again in 2027,” he stressed.
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