Former Labor Party vice-presidential candidate Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed has said that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar may have positioned himself for victory in the 2027 presidential election if he had backed Peter Obi in 2023 rather than contesting him.
In an interview on Inside Sources on Channels Television monitored by The News Chronicle, Baba-Ahmed argued that Atiku missed a strategic opportunity to build long-term political goodwill by supporting younger aspirants and waiting for what he described as the “Tinubu-style” political rotation strategy.
According to him, such a move would have reshaped alliances ahead of 2027.
“If in the 2023 elections, he took everyone by surprise… called Peter Obi and me and said, ‘You are my juniors, I’ll support you guys. No 2027 for you,’ Wallahi, I would have agreed… and Atiku would have been the 2027 president of Nigeria if so had happened,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed added that many politicians become overwhelmed by ambition once they enter the presidential race, losing the patience required for long-term political strategy.
“But once they enter that trance, they tend to see themselves as President,” he said.
He contrasted Atiku’s approach with that of President Bola Tinubu, whom he credited with years of strategic alliance-building and patience in his pursuit of the presidency.
“He didn’t mind to plan for that long. When in 2007, he gave a platform to Atiku, we knew what he was doing,” Baba-Ahmed said, noting that Tinubu’s political investments eventually paid off in 2023.
Baba-Ahmed further suggested that such patience is rare among current opposition figures, with the exception of former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi, whom he described as more strategic in his timing.
“That patience, those in this group, except Amaechi, don’t have it,” he said.
He also criticized opposition coalition leaders, recalling that he had previously warned them against overconfidence ahead of the 2027 elections, insisting they lacked a strong unifying figure comparable to former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“They didn’t have a Buhari in this coalition… If you don’t have a decent outlier, people will find it difficult to rally around him,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed warned that President Tinubu’s political experience and deep understanding of power dynamics could make him a difficult opponent to unseat in the next general election.
