Hakeem Baba-Ahmed’s call on Atiku to step aside intellectually dishonest – Omoluabi Coalition

A group, the Omoluabi Coalition has strongly condemned the continued interventions of Hakeem Baba-Ahmed in Nigeria’s opposition politics, describing his posture as duplicitous, partisan, and calculated to weaken the opposition ahead of 2027.

In a statement issued on Friday and signed by its Convener, Olumide Obayemi, the Coalition faulted Baba-Ahmed’s repeated public calls urging Atiku Abubakar to step aside from the 2027 contest, insisting that the decision to seek elective office is a personal and constitutional right, guided by prevailing political realities—not the preferences of self-appointed gatekeepers.

The Coalition noted with concern that since his much-publicised exit from the administration of Bola Tinubu, Baba-Ahmed has conspicuously avoided any serious critique of a government that has presided over unprecedented economic hardship, social dislocation, and national despair. Instead, his energy has been disproportionately deployed against the opposition—particularly the African Democratic Congress (ADC)—raising legitimate questions about where his true loyalties lie.

“It is both ironic and revealing,” the statement said, “that a man who claims non-partisanship has found nothing fundamentally wrong with an administration that has wrecked livelihoods, but finds endless fault with an opposition seeking to rescue the country.”

The Coalition further described as intellectually dishonest Baba-Ahmed’s attempt to delegitimise debates around succession, zoning, and leadership aspirations—especially his dismissive tone toward voices from the South-East. It stressed that Nigerians from any region, including supporters of Peter Obi, have an unquestionable right to articulate political demands, canvass positions, and even argue for automatic tickets—so long as such advocacy remains peaceful and within democratic bounds.

“No individual—certainly not Hakeem Baba-Ahmed—has the moral or democratic authority to criminalise political demands simply because he disagrees with them,” the Coalition said.

“Supporters of Peter Obi are entitled to their views, just as supporters of Atiku Abubakar or any other aspirant are. Democracy does not require silence; it requires engagement.”

The group accused Baba-Ahmed of actively stoking internal tensions within the opposition in a bid to fracture unity and hand advantage to the ruling party.

“We therefore challenge Hakeem Baba-Ahmed to come clean,” the statement added. “Is he an independent voice, or a fifth columnist working, wittingly or unwittingly, for the re-election of President Tinubu?”

The Coalition also found it troubling that while Baba-Ahmed postures as an arbiter of opposition conduct, his family’s public interventions have often been hostile toward Peter Obi, further deepening suspicion about a coordinated effort to sow discord across opposition ranks.

“Nigeria has endured enough,” the statement concluded. “Any so-called ‘corn’ analyst who spends this moment attacking the prospects of opposition success—rather than interrogating the failures of a collapsing administration—stands exposed as an agent of the status quo. Nigerians must see through this charade and reject it.”