Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, the 2023 vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party and running mate to Peter Obi, has described the coalition-backed African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a “grand deception,” alleging that many of those who presided over Nigeria’s ruin under the Muhammadu Buhari administration are now regrouping in the party ahead of the 2027 elections.
Speaking in a late-night interview on Channels Television monitored in Abuja, Baba-Ahmed argued that Nigeria’s fundamental problems are rooted in a flawed leadership recruitment process which consistently produces corrupt and self-serving politicians.
According to him, electoral fraud is at the root of 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 turned his focus on the Buhari years. When reminded that some of the former president’s allies are now finding a new political home in the ADC and presenting themselves as reformers, he fired back, pointing to Buhari’s own history in the notoriously corrupt General Sani Abacha regime.
According to Baba-Ahmed, Nigeria is still recovering stolen funds traced to the Abacha government. He said Nigerians had invested enormous expectations in Buhari only to be betrayed, describing his tenure as “one of the most corrupt in Nigeria’s history.”
Recalling Buhari’s stint as Chairman of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under Abacha, Baba-Ahmed said Nigerians were sorely disappointed.
“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 him, 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.”
He continued: “Everybody knows how corrupt that (Abacha) government was. Up till now, money is still being claimed 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 Buhari’s political “ecosystem” had always been built on self-interest and financial inducements.
“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, however, reaffirmed his loyalty to the Labour Party and Peter Obi.
“I am in Labour Party, for God’s sake. I am a Peter Obi man, and I want him to contest again in 2027,” he stressed.