‘Baba’ Atiku has been contesting presidency since my NYSC days; Nigeria needs new leaders: Baba-Ahmed

Datti Baba-Ahmed, the 2023 vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), on Friday said former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been contesting the presidency since his days in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Mr Baba-Ahmed, who spoke on Channels TV on Friday, decried the long-standing political bid of Mr Abubakar, stressing that Nigeria urgently needs a “new generation” of leaders.

“When I was doing my NYSC, Baba Atiku was an aspirant, and in 2018, we contested the primaries together,” said Mr Baba-Ahmed. “In 2023, we contested again, with me as a vice-presidential candidate elsewhere, when his vice president had left him. And, for God’s sake, in 2027 again.”

Mr Baba-Ahmed argued that Nigeria must move beyond recycling the same political actors and embrace a new generation of leadership.

“There is a need for a new generation of Nigerian leaders, and they do exist. Like I said, a whole new generation is waiting for a new leader to lead them to a new path,” he said.

The politician stated that while many Nigerians are capable of solving the country’s problems, they are often discouraged by what he described as an expensive, difficult, and treacherous political system dominated by godfatherism and broken promises.

“There are good Nigerians. There are people capable of fixing Nigeria’s problems, but they are discouraged by the system. Still, there are Nigerians who are looking for that leader who will lead them to fix Nigeria,” Mr Baba-Ahmed said.

Mr Abubakar had also vowed to contest the presidency in 2027.

He has contested the presidency six times: in 1993, he contested on the Social Democratic Party (SDP) platform, and in 2007, he contested on the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) platform, losing to Umaru Yar’Adua of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr Abubakar challenged former President Goodluck Jonathan in the PDP’s primaries in 2011 and lost. After joining the APC in 2014 ahead of the 2015 election, Mr Abubakar lost the presidential primaries to Muhammadu Buhari.

The politician returned to the PDP in 2017 and lost the 2019 presidential election to Mr Buhari of the APC. He contested alongside Mr Tinubu in 2023 and also lost.