The national chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has said the late former President Muhammadu Buhari saw President Bola Tinubu as a bad news for Nigeria and was reluctant to hand over power to him.

Mr Baba-Ahmed, who served in Mr Tinubu’s government for about two years, made this claim during his speech at a summit organised by the Northern Elders Forum, published by Symfoni TV on Saturday.

“Even Buhari saw Tinubu as bad news for this country. In fairness to him, he is not around him(sic). Buhari resisted some people who insisted it had to be Tinubu,” Mr Baba-Ahmed said. 

He added, “Now we are being depressed for having a president for three and a half years. He has dragged the country as lo as it is possible to go. And it has to stop him. We cannot go below, beyond where we are.” 

Citing Mr Tinubu’s pre-election outburst in Ogun State amid struggle for the All Progressive Congress’ (APC) presidential ticket, Mr Baba-Ahmed said “Nigerians ought to have known there was something wrong the day Tinubu said, ‘It’s my turn.’ Maybe we missed it.

“We have a presidency of a country of 250 million people. My turn? To do what? To become president.”

The PRP chairman berated Mr Tinubu for saying he would not show up in all the APC campaigns, stating that the President felt too big to admit his mistakes before Nigerians and beg them to vote for him.

He noted, “We will survive the four years of abuse, plunder of Tinubu. We will not allow him.”

During the 2023 presidential electioneering, Mr Tinubu disclosed that there were plots to frustrate his presidential ambition.