The National Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has declared that he would work to ensure President Bola Tinubu is not re-elected in the 2027 general election.
Baba-Ahmed, a former Special Adviser on Political Matters to Tinubu, stated this on Sunday during an interview with Channels TV, while reacting to claims that he was working for the President following his previous role in Tinubu’s administration.
He emphasised that he worked in Tinubu’s administration and not for him(Tinubu).
He explained, “The people also said we are working for Tinubu, can you believe this. People say things like if you are not in this particular party, you must be working for Tinubu because you are only to split the vote. I worked in Tinubu’s administration, I am not working for him.
“I will work to get Tinubu out of place (Presidential seat) because I think he is bad news for Nigerian’s future.”
Asked whether he could work with Tinubu again, Baba-Ahmed ruled out the possibility.
“No, if I could work for him, I would not have walked out of the office that they appointed me in. I am not saying that only PRP can get Tinubu out of power but we have a major contribution to make and we are looking for every legitimate opportunity to make that work,” he added.
Speaking on the chances of the opposition coalition defeating the ruling All Progressives Congress despite internal disagreements, Baba-Ahmed said the APC had already weakened itself through poor governance and anti-democratic practices.
“We can, by being better than him. First, he (Tinubu) has done half of our work. He has messed up this country. He has made life miserable, more insecure and Nigerians are desperately unhappy and we know this for a fact. He knows it for a fact, unless they don’t tell him the truth and how the country is.
“So, half the work has already been done. The rest of the work has to be done by us. The heavy lifting. We have to put our resources together and put our energy together and decide whether we can shun selfishness or we can produce who get what.
“But the issue is to have a change of government in 2027. I genuinely believe that it is possible to defeat the APC. I also believe that the APC has substantially damaged itself. Maybe what happened in its primaries and we said so. APC will implode and it is imploding.
“It is sitting on people’s right. It is deciding who becomes what, who becomes this. A handful of people, millions of people, who becomes the governor. This is not democracy, APC has destroyed the democratic traditions in this country. It will send a handful of people to decide who is where. You, you will become this, you go and more worse, he has raised the level of poverty in the level of the selection,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed, a former spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum, previously served in Tinubu’s administration before resigning his appointment.
He resigned from his position in April 2025, as the Special Adviser on Political Matters to Tinubu, nearly two years after his appointment in 2023.
He emphasised that the Tinubu administration lacked the drive and commitment needed to address Nigeria’s most pressing issues, particularly poverty and insecurity, which he argued have worsened during President Tinubu’s tenure.
