•Alleges division among promoters •Accuses coalition leaders of pursuing
personal ambitions •Pushes for generational power shift

FRANTIC bid by the leading opposition figures to form a coalition capable of stopping the reelection of President Bola Tinubu in 2027 may not succeed, erstwhile presidential aide, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said on Monday.

Featuring on a live interview programme titled: ‘The Morning Show, on Arise Television in Abuja, which was monitored by the Nigerian Tribune, Baba-Ahmed said the promoters are not ready to subsume their individual political ambitions in the collective mission of the coalition.

Baba-Ahmed noted that many of the figures spearheading the coalition have failed to inspire confidence or present a compelling alternative to President Tinubu’s administration.

“These are people who have been governors, vice-presidents, ministers. Some of them have contested three times for president. Now they are telling Nigerians, ‘trust us again.’ But Nigerians can see through that. They don’t represent a different future,” he said.

According to him, the coalition effort is flawed from the ground up, as it was being controlled by the same old political elite who have dominated Nigeria’s political scene for decades.

“It’s the wrong approach. They meet, agree among themselves, and say, ‘We’ve decided this one will be this, and that one will be that.’ Then they invite Nigerians in. That’s not how to build a credible opposition,” he added.

While advocating for a generational power shift, Baba-Ahmed asked the familiar political actors to allow new, credible Nigerians to take the lead in charting a new course for the country.

“What they need is a complete departure from who they are, what they’ve done, and what they still represent. They can work behind the scenes, but new faces must emerge to give Nigerians real hope,” he said.

The former presidential aide accused the promoters of the coalition of lacking vision and meaningful engagement with the issues affecting Nigerians, saying the movement risks becoming a power grabber rather than a movement for change.

 “Where is the vision? Where are the younger Nigerians who should be leading this country? Where is the concern that violence is destroying our communities? Politics should be about the people, not just about getting rid of President Tinubu,” he said

 “Unless opposition leaders put forward a clear, people-centered agenda with credible leadership, they may inadvertently help the All Progressives Congress (APC) retain power in 2027.

“What they’re doing is simply handing over the country back to a president they claim they want to defeat,” he stated.

Baba-Ahmed, who resigned from his appointment as an adviser to President Tinubu, disagreed that the coalition is the usual gang-up of the North when a southerner is the president of the country.

He explained that similar alliances in the past involved both the North and the South.

“There are southerners involved in this talk about coalitions, too. You know Governor Amaechi is there, the former governor of Osun State (Rauf Aregbesola) is there. There are a lot of people from the southern part of the country.

 “They love the South too; they don’t want to be second to the North. They are there. It’s not every time that when a southerner is there, there have always been talks about coalitions,” he said.

 The former spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) noted that incumbent president was part of a coalition that defeated President Goodluck Jonathan in the past.

“We formed a coalition in 2011/2012 with a southerner. His name is President Tinubu now. He gave us his bit of the Action Congress of Nigeria, and we formed a coalition between the AC and the CPC, and we created the APC. It’s not a new thing. There have always been coalitions,” he stated.

He expressed doubts that leadership of the coalition does not appear to offer a promising alternative on the way forward for Nigeria.

 “The people, who are leading the attempts to create an alternative to APC, I’m not sure that they’re any better than APC itself. That is what the big disappointment is. And the challenge is they don’t have the time to fix all these gaps that they have, and they’re not willing to think outside the box and create a real, genuine alternative. What they are doing is just simply handing over 2027 to President Tinubu,” he said.

He explained that he was not in any way involved in forming the coalition, but was observing from the sidelines with a growing concern.

“I’m just an observer who is watching with a lot of worry that an opportunity to create a strong opposition to the ruling party is being messed up by people who insist that they have to be the face of that opposition,” he said.

Baba-Ahmed claimed that the coalition was scheming behind the scenes to promote their individual ambitions at the expense of the need to herald a new dawn.

While also accusing the leadership of putting themselves forward instead of working to support a new generation of leaders with fresh ideas and public trust, the former presidential aide admonished that the public can see through the recycled faces, who served in high office as vice presidents, governors, and ministers.

 “The most important thing they’re doing wrong is putting themselves forward. It’s a coalition of a few politicians who hope that they can arrive at some understanding and then open the door and say, ‘ok, fellow Nigerians, we’ve agreed. This one will be this, and this one will be that, and you can now come in.’ It’s the wrong way about it.

“None of these people should lead or be seen in a position where they’re determining who should be in that coalition. They can work behind the scenes. What they need is a generational shift and a political shift away from who they are, what they’ve done, what they want to do, to a different set of Nigerians who can give Nigerians hope.

“These are not the people who are saying, give us trust. Trust us again to solve the problems that the APC is creating. This is the wrong thing. And it’s very difficult to convince politicians that Nigerians can see through you. They don’t have faith that you actually represent a future, a different future from this government. You just want to replace President Tinubu,” he stated.

Baba-Ahmed was not optimistic about the feasibility of a new party getting registered because of the tough conditions of INEC on party registration.

According to him, “Unless a miracle happens, they forgot there are huge numbers of applications before INEC, and INEC hasn’t registered any party for a long time.”

Another issue raised by Baba Ahmed was alleged cracks among the promoters of the coalition, which he said was confirmed by some of the leading lights in the opposition.

“I’m not involved in the coalition discussion. I am just observing with a lot of worries that an opportunity to create a strong opposition to the ruling party is being messed up by people who insist they must be the face of that opposition.

“There are divisions between and among them. It is a coalition of a few politicians, who thought that they could arrive at some understanding and then open the door and say “fellow Nigerians, we have agreed that this one will be this one and this one will be that”.

“None of these people should lead or be in a position to determine who should be in the coalition, they can work behind the scene.

“Who are the younger Nigerians that should be at this party? Where are the youths? They are missing the point. They think that politics is about them but it is not.”