Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the running mate of Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election, has once again shared his views about the newly created opposition coalition under the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Speaking during an interview on Trust TV, Baba-Ahmed noted that the new coalition has gathered many political heavyweights, such as former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s Peter Obi, former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, former Senate President David Mark, and several ex-governors.
While he praised the strength of the coalition, he also raised concerns about its structure and goals.
He noted that the major challenge facing the group is the number of people in it with presidential ambitions.
“The coalition is full of options, the coalition is full of resources, but the downside is that the coalition is also too full of ambitions. Ambitions have to be reduced, they have to be managed carefully,” Baba-Ahmed said.
He explained that his comments were not meant to criticize anyone in the group but simply to point out issues that may hold them back. He said that unlike the current ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the ADC coalition lacks a clear figure who can make sacrifices or lead the group without creating internal power struggles.
The 55-year-old politician noted that in the past, strong figures like Bola Tinubu gave up personal ambitions to support others for the greater good, like he did for Atiku in 2007. Similarly, Buhari brought along millions of voters when he joined APC and helped it win in 2015. Baba-Ahmed does not see that same kind of sacrifice or strategy in the current ADC-led coalition.
“If you do business as usual against a seating government like Tinubu, you won’t win. You need to do what we call think outside the box. To achieve an impossible feat you truly need an impossible strategy,” he said.
He also advised the coalition not to make Atiku their candidate again. According to him, the APC knows Atiku’s playbook and would know exactly how to stop him.
“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 stated.
In his final remarks, Baba-Ahmed noted that unlike APC in 2015, which had Buhari as its natural leader and rallying point, the ADC coalition does not yet have someone who stands out in the same way. He believes that if the group fails to manage personal ambitions and set a strong strategy, it may struggle to challenge the current government in the 2027 elections.
