A former political adviser to President Bola Tinubu, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has refuted claims that northern politicians are driving the opposition coalition against Tinubu’s administration.
Baba-Ahmed has dismissed the narrative that northern political leaders ‘gang up’ to create coalitions each time a Southerner is in power.
Speaking on Arise Television on Monday, Baba-Ahmed, who recently resigned from his role, clarified that the alliance, led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, is not a northern-centric initiative.
The sentiment that northern politicians are fond of establishing alliances against a southerner in power stemmed from the political coalition that birthed the now-ruling All Progressives Congress in 2013.
The coalition defeated the Goodluck Jonathan-led government in the 2015 presidential election, leading to the emergence of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
When asked why political coalitions only happen when a southerner leads the country, Baba-Ahmed said political alliances are not new in Nigeria, adding that all the coalitions that have happened in the country involved southerners.
“There are southerners involved in this talk about coalitions, too. You know, Governor Rotimi Amaechi is there, and the former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, is there. There are a lot of people from the southern part of the country.
“They love the south too, they don’t want to be second to the north. They are there. It’s not every time that when a southerner is there, there have always been talks about coalitions,” he said.
Recalling how the coalition that defeated Jonathan’s government was formed, Baba-Ahmed said President Tinubu, a Southerner, was instrumental in its formation.
“We formed a coalition in 2011/2012 with a Southerner. His name is President Tinubu now. He gave us his bit of Nigeria, and we formed a coalition between the AD and the CPC, and we created the APC. It’s not a new thing. There have always been coalitions,” he recalled.
