The 2023 Labour Party Vice-Presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, has asserted that the intense desperation to oust former President Goodluck Jonathan from power in 2015 is the root cause of the widespread insecurity plaguing Nigeria today.
He made these remarks during a recent appearance on the Channels Television programme, Politics Today.
Baba-Ahmed provided a personal account to substantiate his claim, referencing his own political history. He recalled contesting alongside the late former President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2011 elections.
However, he stated that he deliberately distanced himself from Buhari’s campaign after the former president made a statement he interpreted as a severe security threat. According to Baba-Ahmed, Buhari ominously declared that people would be “soaked in blood.”
Citing Kaduna as his home state, he recounted the serious violence that erupted there, including the burning of many houses, which he implicitly connected to that rhetoric.
The Labour Party stalwart further alleged that the determination to remove Jonathan led to extreme measures, including the recruitment and bringing of individuals from neighbouring countries to ensure the election’s outcome.
Baba-Ahmed concluded that this win-at-all-costs approach in 2015, which prioritised political victory over national stability, set a dangerous precedent and unleashed the forces of violence that have since evolved into the severe security crisis Nigeria now faces, including widespread terrorism, banditry, and communal clashes. He presented this as a cautionary tale about the long-term consequences of political desperation.
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cc: Daily Post NG
