The man I picked as my running mate, my number two. If I had known him as I came to know him later, I would not have picked him
– President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007)
When Datti Baba-Ahmed ran with Peter Gregory Obi in the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), they were hardly given any chance, but they surprised virtually everybody, including the world, with their strong showing. Many put it down to the unpreceeented following Obi enjoyed then among the youths and Christendon.
Then too, Datti, as we will take the licence to call him in this article for ease of reference, was somehow blind to the flaws of his principal. Obi was the all in all to him. A man that could do no wrong and who has what it takes to turn Nigeria around in a short time. He chose to forget that what Nigeria needed was not a gambler, but a thinker and a reformer.
A man with the strongwill to act and do things and stand by them, not a faint-hearted fella who is unsure of what to do until goaded into action by a mob that he is ever willing to listen to. The scale has now fallen off Datti’s eyes and he spoke his mind some days ago without minding whose ox is gored. In doing that, he spoke like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the one and only Baba who takes people to the shredders, including his own biological children, whenever it catches his fancy.
So, in a way, by that act, Obi’s former running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed has become Datti Baba-Obasanjo for sharing this trait of shooting straight like the general. Datti fired from all cylinders. It was not his first time of doing so. In the heat of the LP leadership crisis, he had advised Obi against dumping the party for another. Obi did not listen to him. He spurned the advice, treating it as, ‘who is this one, a mere running mate who would have been my spare tyre if I had won the election to tell me what to do’.
In the end, Obi moved, first, to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), thinking that he would be offered its 2027 presidential ticket on a platter. Not on his life, with Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi thrown into the mix. He quickly read the mood within the coalition and fled to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which welcomed him and former Kano strongman Rabiu Kwankwaso with open arms. Obi was offered NDC’s presidentiaal ticket without a contest, but the party’s leader remains Seriake Dickson, who makes it known time and again that he is as good a presidential material as well.
He has never ceased saying it that being NDC’s standard-bearers does not make Obi and his running mate, Kwankwaso, more qualified than him and many others in the party. Drawing that line has put Obi, his rancorous supporters as well as Kwankwaso’s mob in check. Datti is bemused by it all. The former Obi man cannot imagine how his principal left what he called ‘a comfort zone (referring to LP)’ for ADC and later NDC. In assessing Obi’s political odyssey, Datti waxed Obasanjoic, pardon the coinage:
‘When he was going to join ADC, I had to go to Yar’Adua Centre ahead of him, so I called him aside… I told him tbis is not a place… Peter Obi moved out of his comfort zone against my advice…Besides, like others contesting against Tinubu in 2027, none of them will improve Nigeria. All those people contesting against him too they were all in bed together at some point or another. Including Peter Obi, I’m sorry to say’.
Datti did not mince words as he made a mincemeat of his principal and the man’s penchant of jumping from one party to the other in the desperation for power. Some wondered why he spoke the way he did, saying that if he knew this about Obi all along why did he agree to be his running mate. I am not here to defend Datti Baba-Obasanjo. But certainly, he cannot be crucified for changing his mind about Obi. What offence has he committed by saying that Obi, Atiku, Adewole Adebayo, Donald Duke and others in the 2027 presidential race cannot do the job?
He has simply said what he thinks about Obi and others and he is entitled to his opinion. People may be right in asking him why he spoke out about Obi now? Is there a rift between them? Well, it is never too late to see the light. For Datti to have seen the light now and asked the electorate to look well at Obi and others seeking to wrest power from President Bola Tinubu in 2027 before making their choice does not make him a sell out.
He simply came out to say the truth about Obi and cautioned the electorate against backing a wrong horse. As Obi’s running mate in 2023 nobody can know him better than Datti. Rather than call Datti names, the public should hail him for doing the character sketch of Obi and bringing out the man’s lack of capacity to discharge the onerous duty of office of the President.
Datti might have spoken like Obasanjo. So what? He has done his job. It is left for the electorate to make a wise decision in 2027, Datti knew the truth and at last the truth has set him free. Now that the electorate also know this truth, hopefully it will set them free too so that they are not misled the second time.