I Wish Tinubu Would Not Run in 2027 — He No Longer Shows the Hunger to Fix Nigeria

Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, former spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum and until April a special adviser in the vice-president’s office, has called on President Bola Tinubu to abandon any intention of seeking a second term, saying the country needs a more energetic and focused leader to confront its worsening challenges.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Baba-Ahmed said he reached this conclusion after observing the president’s performance in office, insisting that Tinubu has not displayed the urgency required to fix the country. “I’m sorry, but I have to say this again. When I left his administration, one of the things I told many people was, ‘I wish President Tinubu would not run again in 2027,’” he said.

He argued that while the president had long pursued the ambition of leading the country and achieved that goal, his governance has fallen short of expectations. “First, he said his ambition was to be president, and he has now achieved that. He said, ‘emi lokan’, and he had his turn. But I don’t think he has run the country well,” he stated.

Baba-Ahmed added that the drive for problem-solving once associated with the president is no longer visible. “The Tinubu we used to know, the Tinubu with all this brilliant intelligence for scheming, hasn’t shown that same hunger to fix things,” he said.

He urged the president to back a new flagbearer, saying the ruling party has younger and more capable individuals who can bring renewed focus to the country’s governance. “He should find a replacement within his party, a younger person, a healthier person, a more focused person, and make him his candidate,” he advised.

Baba-Ahmed also criticised the administration’s response to recent national emergencies, arguing that it fell short of what Nigerians should expect. “I didn’t see a president who should respond to an emergency or a challenge in this manner, with the manner and spirit that he should. I didn’t see it,” he said.

He warned that the country’s situation has deteriorated to a point where business-as-usual leadership is no longer viable. “The truth is that Nigeria has deteriorated so badly that we cannot continue to run things as if they’re normal,” he concluded.