Former President Muhammadu Buhari resisted pressure from political interests pushing for President Bola Tinubu to succeed him because he considered Tinubu’s presidency detrimental to Nigeria.
This is according to the National Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed.
Baba-Ahmed, who made the claim at a summit organised by the Northern Elders Forum, also accused Tinubu of taking the country to its lowest point under his administration.
He insisted that Nigerians must prevent his ambition for another term from overriding the national interest.
In a video of the event published on Symfoni’s YouTube channel, the PRP chairman said Nigerians should have questioned the implications of Tinubu’s presidential ambition when he declared “Emilokan”.
The Yoruba phrase means “it is my turn”, a slogan that went viral during the build-up to the 2023 election.
“Even Buhari saw Tinubu as bad news for this country. In fairness to him, he is not around him. Buhari resisted some people who insisted it had to be Tinubu,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed questioned the rationale behind the slogan.
He argued that the presidency of a country of about 250 million people should not be approached as an entitlement to be claimed by an individual.
“Nigerians ought to have known there was something wrong the day Tinubu said ‘It’s my turn’. Maybe we missed it,” he said.
“We have a presidency of a country of 250 million people. My turn? To do what? To become president”, he added.
He said the country had suffered a prolonged period of hardship under Tinubu.
He accused the administration of failing across critical measures of national performance.
“Now we are being depressed for having a president for three and a half years. He has dragged the country as low as it is possible to go. And it has to stop him. We cannot go below, beyond where we are,” Baba-Ahmed said.
He further accused the president of putting personal political ambition ahead of the welfare of Nigerians.
He warned against allowing an individual’s determination to retain power to undermine the country.
“We will not allow a president to fulfil an ambition that one individual alone can wreak his country, just to prove that he has the power and the money to do so,” he said.
“We are at the bottom. There is no way to go anymore. Every index of failure shows in this administration”, he added.
The PRP chairman also faulted Tinubu for not personally appealing to Nigerians for a second term.
He alleged that the president had relied on political allies to advance his re-election campaign.
He equally criticised governors in the North for failing to adequately draw Tinubu’s attention to the economic difficulties and growing public dissatisfaction in the region.
Despite his criticism of the administration, Baba-Ahmed expressed confidence that Nigeria would overcome its present difficulties
He pointed to the country’s resilience in the face of previous national crises.
“We are very resilient people. We have seen crises bigger than this, and we survived it. We survived it, and we will survive this one.
“We will survive the four years of abuse, neglect, and plunder that Tinubu has caused because Nigeria has to survive for our children and their children”, he said.
On the 2027 presidential election, Baba-Ahmed said opposition parties were working towards a coalition aimed at defeating Tinubu.
He described the initiative as a serious effort to unite political forces despite their differences.
“What we have seen is an incredible willingness for politicians to come together and say, let’s put aside some of our differences and see if we can actually create a momentum strong enough to remove this Tinubu,” he said.
He added that the coalition would present a candidate to challenge the president, urging Nigerians opposed to Tinubu’s re-election to rally behind whoever emerges as its flag-bearer.
The proposed alliance comes against the backdrop of efforts by opposition figures to build a common front ahead of the 2027 general election.
This comes with the challenge of reconciling competing political interests and agreeing on a consensus candidate likely to shape its prospects.
Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), succeeding Buhari after eight years of APC-led government.
His administration has pursued major economic reforms, including the removal of the petrol subsidy and changes to foreign-exchange management.
His supporters have defended as necessary to stabilise public finances but which have also coincided with a sharp rise in the cost of living and widespread public concern over household purchasing power.
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