Baba-Ahmed: Coalition Not Better Than APC, Unwilling to Think Outside the Box

•Says Nigeria needs a generational change 

•Dismisses claim of northern coalition only when southerner is in government

ChuksOkochain Abuja andFunmiOgundarein Lagos

A former political adviser to President Bola Tinubu, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has expressed scepticism about the newly formed opposition coalition, the All-Democratic Alliance (ADA).

While the coalition aimed to present a strong alternative to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Baba-Ahmed noted that its current leadership might not offer a better path forward.

Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS, Baba-Ahmed said, “The people who are leading the attempts to create an alternative to APC, I’m not sure that they’re any better than APC itself. And that is what is the big disappointment.

“And the challenge is they don’t have the time to fix all these gaps that they have, and they’re not willing to think outside the box and create a real, genuine alternative. What they are doing is just simply handing over 2027 to President Tinubu.”

He, however, distanced himself from the coalition, noting that he was not involved in any aspect of its formation. Instead, he said he was observing from the sidelines — and with growing concern.

“I’m just an observer who is watching with a lot of worry that an opportunity to create a strong opposition to the ruling party is being messed up by people who insist that they have to be the face of that opposition,” he said.

According to Baba-Ahmed, the coalition is driven more by the ambitions of political heavyweights than by a genuine desire for national transformation.

He criticised its leadership for putting themselves forward rather than working behind the scenes to support a new generation of leaders with fresh ideas and public trust.

 He also warned that the public could see through the recycled faces and were unlikely to believe that those who had served in high office before — as vice presidents, governors, or ministers — were capable of bringing about meaningful change, saying, “What Nigerians need is a generational and ideological shift.

“The most important thing they’re doing wrong is putting themselves forward. It’s a coalition of a few politicians, who hope that they can arrive at some understanding and then open the door and say, ‘ok, fellow Nigerians, we’ve agreed. This one will be this, and this one will be that, and you can now come in.’

“It’s the wrong way about it. None of these people should lead or be seen in a position where they’re determining who should be in that coalition. They can work behind the scenes.

“What they need is a generational shift and a political shift away from who they are, what they’ve done, what they want to do, to a different set of Nigerians who can give Nigerians hope.”