2023: I Teamed Up with Obi After 3 Others Rejected Him – Datti Baba-Ahmed

Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, Vice-Presidential Candidate of Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election, has given a personal account of what transpired between them. In an interview with symphoni, he said his decision to run alongside Obi was not driven by ambition or alliance politics, but sympathy for the former Anambra governor. He disclosed that before his entry into the race, Obi had reached out to at least three prominent political figures to serve as his running mate, but was turned down each time. According to him, those rejections shaped the eventual pairing that placed him on the Labour Party ticket. Reflecting on his political connection with Obi, Baba-Ahmed said, “I have sympathy for him. And this sympathy was at the core of our relationship,” He added that the mood around Obi’s search for a running mate in 2022 was difficult, saying the situation left him emotionally and politically unsettled. “When he approached three other major politicians in 2022, I would have been glad if one of them had gone with Peter Obi in 2022. But they all avoided him. I felt bad for him and I felt bad for Nigeria as a nation,” he said. The former senator maintained that his involvement was voluntary and insisted he stepped in as a matter of conviction rather than calculation. “I took it upon myself because naturally I have always been a volunteer. For the sake of Nigeria, I extended that sympathy to him,” he added. The 2023 Labour Party presidential effort, anchored by Obi and Baba-Ahmed under the Labour Party, later became one of the most closely watched political movements in the country’s recent electoral history. However, the alliance has since evolved into public disagreement over party strategy and political direction. Obi has since moved through shifting political alignments, including a brief association with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) before later exiting alongside former Kano governor Rabiu Kwankwaso amid concerns over internal uncertainties. He is now linked with the Nigeria Democratic Congress political movement (NDC). Baba-Ahmed, meanwhile, criticized Obi’s decision to leave the Labour Party amid its internal leadership crisis involving factional disputes tied to Julius Abure, arguing that political instability is not unique to any single platform. “If Abure was a problem, what makes him think Nwosu or David Mark of ADC will not be a problem? What makes him think Seriake of NDC will not be a problem?” he asked. He stressed that political challenges are universal and should be confronted rather than escaped. “So it’s the same thing wherever you go. Stay here and fix the problem and let’s work together. But he decided to move,” he said. Baba-Ahmed also pushed back against perceptions that his political identity is tied to Obi, insisting his independence remains intact. “With due respect, he does not own my politics; he doesn’t own me. I am independent,” he said. Since parting ways with the Labour Party, Baba-Ahmed has aligned with the Peoples Redemption Party, marking another shift in his political trajectory following the 2023 elections.