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.

Mr Abubakar, who had contested the presidency six times, had vowed to run again in 2027.

“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.

Meanwhile, Mr Baba-Ahmed said the party would warmly welcome its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, back if he is denied the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential ticket.

“I also said if Peter Obi does not get the ticket there in ADC, he is more than welcome back to the Labour Party,” he said.

Mr Baba-Ahmed argued that it would be better for Mr Obi to return to the platform on which they jointly contested the 2023 presidential election than pursue what he described as “another type of agenda.”

“I will stand there, and nobody will do anything bad to Peter Obi. It is better for him to come back than for him to do another type of agenda,” he added.

Mr Obi recently left the Labour Party for the ADC in his political bid to contest the 2027 election against incumbent President Bola Tinubu.

The opposition leader has now joined Mr Abubakar and others in the coalition-backed ADC ahead of the forthcoming presidential election.
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