Tinubu shouldn’t seek re-election, he can’t run this government — Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

Former spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, says President Bola Tinubu should drop any plan to seek re-election in 2027 and instead support a younger and more capable candidate from within his party.

Baba-Ahmed, who resigned as special adviser on political affairs to the vice-president in April, made the remarks during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.

He said the president has not shown the drive required to fix the country, despite his long-established reputation for political strategy.

“I’m sorry, but I have to say this again. When I left his administration, one of the things I told many people was, ‘I wish President Tinubu would not run again in 2027,’” he said.

“First, he said his ambition was to be president, and he has now achieved that. He said, ‘emi lokan’, and he had his turn. But I don’t think he has run the country well.

“The Tinubu we used to know, the Tinubu with all this brilliant intelligence for scheming, hasn’t shown that same hunger to fix things.

“He should find a replacement within his party, a younger person, a healthier person, a more focused person, and make him his candidate.

“He can, if he can run this government, get all these people out of the PDP to come and join him; he has amongst every power that he needs, but he’s not running the country.

“Let’s go back to this Trump thing — I didn’t see a president who should respond to an emergency or a challenge in this manner, with the manner and spirit that he should. I didn’t see it. And it’s not just on this issue.

“The truth is that Nigeria has deteriorated so badly that we cannot continue to run things as if they’re normal.”