No doubt, the presidential ambition of the Labour Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi is gaining traction on social media mainly among the youths. He has been the darling of social media as he is seen as a fresh face to take Nigeria to the promised land.
For weeks, talks of a merger between the labour party and the New Nigeria people Party were in the works. The thinking is that Rabiu Kwankwaso with his massive cult following in Kano State and neighboring states was a perfect match for Obi’s soaring popularity.
It was not to be as the alliance collapsed due to the inability to agree on who should be the vice presidential candidate.
After the failed alliance between the Labour Party and NNPP broke down, Obi looked to the north to pick his running mate and the lot fell on Baze University founder, Yusuf Datti Baba Ahmed.
In the event held in Abuja to unveil his running mate, Obi said after a thorough search and consultations, Baba-Ahmed fitted into his vision and that of the party to “take back Nigeria.”
“This is our right to secure, unite and make Nigeria productive. And you cannot do that without having people who have similar visions, and ideas and are prepared for the task. So, I have the honor today to present to you, God willing, Nigeria’s next Vice President in the person of Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed,” the former governor of Anambra State had said.
His selection was greeted with excitement on social media as he was seen as another fresh face.
Born in 1969 to the Baba-Ahmed family in Zaria, Kaduna State, he is one of the 33 children of his father said to be an Arab cattle trader from modern-day Mauritania. His father later became a notable professor and expert in Islamic jurisprudence.
Baba-Ahmed has a B.Sc and M.Sc in Economics from the University of Maiduguri, Borno State. He also has an MBA from the University of Wales, Cardiff.
In 2006, he bagged his Ph.D. at the University of Westminster and worked in the business and banking industry for several years before venturing into politics.
After his service year at the University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Ogun State, he worked as a projects coordinator, at Baze Research and Data Services Limited, and as Officer II in the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, Lagos.
He also worked as a banking officer, at First Bank of Nigeria Plc from July 1997 to Dec 1998. He then returned to Baze Research and Data Services Ltd in July 1999 as a managing director, a position he held until January 2003 when he went into politics.
Baba-Ahmed sought election into political office on the platform of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) in 2003, the same year President Muhammadu Buhari first contested for president under the same party.
While Buhari lost the presidential election, Baba-Ahmed was elected into the Federal House of Representatives in April 2003 to represent Zaria Federal Constituency, Kaduna State.
He was popular for his principled activism. During former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, he was among the lawmakers who opposed Obasanjo’s third term bid.
In May 2006 he said he would not seek reelection unless action was taken to investigate allegations that members had been bribed to support the constitutional changes needed for a third term presidency.
He contested and won the Kaduna North Senatorial elections in 2011 under Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) which was then led by Buhari, who contested again for president but lost.
The election was challenged at the court by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which led to Baba-Ahmed’s controversial victory being overturned.
In 2018, he ran unsuccessfully for the PDP presidential ticket. In 2022, he pulled out as a gubernatorial aspirant in the PDP primaries in Kaduna State, citing his refusal to bribe delegates as his reason.
Many political analysts have questioned whether the rising profile of Obi and Datti Baba- Ahmed can cause an upset in 2023. According to this school of thought, both men lack the structure and national spread to cause any upset. They aver that social media popularity is different from the actual facts on the ground. The voters in the rural areas don’t have access to social media and it has little bearing on how they will vote.
Another school of thought opines that the people are the structure and the duo can upset the apple cart in 2023 as some Nigerians are yearning for a change of the old other and Obi/ Datti Baba Ahmed tickets fit the bill of a new Nigeria.
They have also been receiving support from some unusual quarters. Ayo Adebanjo, leader of Afenifere, a pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, has thrown his weight behind Peter Obi.
Adebanjo on Tuesday said Obi can “rule independently” and would not disappoint Nigerians if he wins the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking on Yoruba Gbode, an online radio program, Adebanjo said he has lost confidence in Tinubu, the Atiku.
Adebanjo said Tinubu sold President Muhammadu Buhari to Nigerians in 2015, adding that he would give continuity to “incompetence” if elected.
“It is only Peter Obi that can rule independently without the influence of these criminals in the government. Tinubu will only give continuity to Buhari’s incompetence,” We know Peter Obi very well, that’s why we endorsed him. He will not disappoint Nigerians, let’s put tribal differences apart and vote the right leader in,” he said .
On his part, The Labour Party candidate for Idemili North and South Federal Constituency in Anambra State, Uche Harris Okonkwo said the synergy within Labour Party, her Presidential candidate, Peter Obi and his running mate, Sen. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, lie the hope that their labours shall never “die in vain”, but bear fruits of triumph.
Okonkwo, who is a dedicated youth advocate, said nothing could have been more wholesome than the convergence of these two selfless minds with consuming passion, to lead Nigerians most determined outrage against terrible misgovernment and dangerous ineptitude.
He said “to snatch our country back from an unperturbed cluelessness, is a duty to avert a grim calamity.
“It is a timely relief to our declining tribe of optimists in a better Nigeria, that citizens fire to cast aside darkness, which found resonance upon the classic integrity of Peter Obi and is now replicated on the elastic depth of Dr Yusuf Baba Ahmed.”
According to many political analysts, the 2023 election will be the closest in the history of the country. For the first time in many years the electorate are presented with three formidable candidates with the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) presenting Bola Tinubu and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) , Atiku Abubakar. Both men are battled tested politicians with a huge financial chest to prosecute any election.
The question many ask is can Obi/ Datti- Baba Ahmed sustain the momentum till next year or it’s just a social media fad? Only time will tell.
