Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, a former vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party in 2023 election, says he African Democratic Congress (ADC) does not have politicians of the calibre of late former President Muhammadu Buhari or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Speaking on Channels Television on Friday, Baba-Ahmed described Buhari and Tinubu as resourceful, focused and determined politicians, arguing that no such figures currently exist within the ADC.
He further predicted that the ADC could disintegrate if its primary elections fail to favour some of the party’s leading figures.
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According to Baba-Ahmed, many of those now aligning with the ADC are the same politicians who helped build the All Progressives Congress (APC), which he accused of misruling Nigeria. He claimed they left the APC out of frustration over not securing elective positions or political appointments.
“Some of them went all the way to Senate screening and are now withdrawing to use the Nigerian people to fight the APC,” he said. “I am not that gullible. I can trace their political careers from the beginning to where they are today, and the answers are negative.”
Baba-Ahmed also criticised the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), saying it suffers from deep structural defects and lacks credibility to win back public trust.
“They are deluding themselves into thinking Nigerians will agree to be deceived twice,” he said. “After bringing in the APC, they remove the ‘P’ and bring a ‘D’ and expect Nigerians to fall for it again, with the same people.”
He argued that the political conditions that enabled the APC’s rise to power in 2015 no longer exist, noting that the coalition politics of that era were driven by public dissatisfaction and promises of change.
“There was a subsisting promise after the election of President Jonathan that does not exist today,” Baba-Ahmed said. “Now there is no promise issue. The same people who brought in the APC, which Nigeria regrets, are now asking Nigerians to vote for the ADC.”
Baba-Ahmed maintained that without credible leadership and a clear alternative vision, the ADC would struggle to gain widespread public support.
