ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- A former Labour Party vice-presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, has claimed that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar would have been on course to become Nigeria’s president in 2027 if he had thrown his weight behind Peter Obi during the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s Inside Sources, Baba-Ahmed argued that Atiku missed an opportunity to build a stronger political alliance by contesting against Obi rather than supporting him.
According to him, if Atiku had adopted the kind of long-term political strategy often associated with President Bola Tinubu by backing younger politicians in 2023 and asking them to wait until after his own presidential ambition was fulfilled, both he and Obi would likely have accepted the arrangement.
“If in the 2023 elections he had taken everyone by surprise and done the kind of thing Tinubu would typically do calling Peter Obi and me and saying, ‘You are my juniors, I will support you guys. No 2027 for you’, Wallahi, I would have agreed, and I would have told Peter Obi to agree. Atiku would have been the 2027 president of Nigeria if that had happened,” Baba-Ahmed said.
He added that many politicians become consumed by presidential ambition once they begin pursuing it.
“But once they enter that trance, they tend to see themselves as President,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed praised Tinubu’s patience and long-term political calculations, citing instances where the President reportedly provided political platforms for other aspirants before eventually pursuing his own presidential ambition.
“He didn’t mind waiting. In 2007, he gave a platform to Atiku. We knew what he was doing because it was not yet the South-West’s turn,” he said.
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“Tinubu does that a lot. He knows how to tie you with your own rope. He tells you, ‘You have just served eight years as Vice President. You want to come to my party? Please, take my party.’”
According to Baba-Ahmed, Tinubu later benefited politically from those decisions during the 2023 election cycle.
“And he used it against him in the 2023 elections because you can tell people, ‘This is the man I gave a platform to, and he promised me that when it becomes my turn, he will not challenge me.’
“That is enough for the deciders to read the judgment that was given,” he added.
He further recalled that Tinubu continued the same approach by supporting other political figures, including the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, before eventually positioning himself for the presidency.
“Then in 2011, he gave another opportunity. In 2015, he saw Baba Buhari and calculated that since it would now be the North for eight years, he remained patient,” Baba-Ahmed said.
He argued that such patience is lacking among several members of the current opposition coalition.
“And that patience, those in this group, except Amaechi, do not have it. Amaechi seems to have been biding his time, but the real top shot over there, if only he were able to wait, measure and play things out,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed also disclosed that he had warned members of the opposition coalition against becoming overly optimistic about their chances against Tinubu ahead of the 2027 election.
According to him, the coalition lacks a unifying figure comparable to Buhari, whose popularity once helped galvanise opposition forces.
“They didn’t have a Buhari, this coalition,” he said.
“I told them that if you do not have a decent outlier, people will find it difficult to rally around him. Did they listen to me? They took offence.”
He maintained that Tinubu understands the political calculations of the opposition and possesses the experience to dismantle any strategy designed to challenge his political dominance ahead of the next presidential election.