Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, gormer Labour Party vice-presidential candidate has said President Bola Tinubu has become so dominant in Nigeria’s political landscape that he has, in his words, “overpowered almost everyone,” arguing that the President has now “qualified himself for divine intervention.”
Baba-Ahmed made the remarks while discussing Nigeria’s political situation and the 2027 presidential contest during an appearance on the MicOn Podcast. His comments came as Tinubu prepares to seek a second term under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Tinubu’s Political Dominance Comes Under Spotlight
Baba-Ahmed’s assessment presents a striking contradiction: while he criticised Tinubu’s administration and argued that the President should prepare to leave office, he also acknowledged the extent of Tinubu’s political influence.
“Tinubu has qualified himself for divine intervention. He has overpowered almost everyone. Take it or leave it, that’s the fact,” Baba-Ahmed said.
The former lawmaker has previously accused the Tinubu administration of weakening opposition political parties and using the machinery of government to consolidate political influence. He argued that Nigeria’s political structure has been transformed under Tinubu in ways that have left many opposition forces struggling to mount an effective challenge.
Baba-Ahmed also accused the administration of turning the power of the Nigerian state against political parties, saying the country’s political environment had become increasingly difficult for opposition forces.
Datti Questions Tinubu’s Opponents Ahead Of 2027
Despite his criticism of Tinubu, Baba-Ahmed also delivered an unexpected assessment of the President’s major challengers. He argued that none of the leading opposition candidates, including his former political ally Peter Obi and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has the capacity to improve Nigeria.
“I will simply advise Uncle Tinubu to please prepare to hand over and move away, but not to the people contesting against him,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed, who was Obi’s running mate in the 2023 presidential election, argued that several of the politicians now seeking to replace Tinubu had previously participated in Nigeria’s political system and therefore could not convincingly present themselves as a completely new alternative.
He maintained that his preferred direction remains the emergence of a “new Nigeria,” while pointing to his own political history as evidence that he had never belonged to a ruling party. He said he left the Congress for Progressive Change before its merger with other parties that eventually produced the APC.
A Political Paradox As 2027 Approaches
Baba-Ahmed’s remarks underline one of the more unusual features of Nigeria’s emerging 2027 political contest: criticism of Tinubu is increasingly being accompanied by doubts about whether the opposition possesses a sufficiently strong alternative.
The former LP vice-presidential candidate has criticised Tinubu over economic policies, political consolidation and the state of the opposition, while simultaneously arguing that the President’s major challengers may not be capable of producing the transformation Nigerians desire. The National Democratic Congress (NDC), meanwhile, has challenged Baba-Ahmed’s assessment of Obi, questioning why he campaigned alongside Obi in 2023 if he believed Obi lacked the capacity to improve Nigeria.
With the 2027 presidential election approaching, Baba-Ahmed’s comments add another layer to an increasingly crowded political debate over whether Tinubu can be defeated, who can realistically replace him, and whether Nigeria’s opposition parties can build a credible alternative.
For OGM News NG, the central question raised by Baba-Ahmed’s statement is straightforward: if Tinubu has indeed “overpowered almost everyone,” as he claims, **will the 2027 election be a battle for power—or a search for the political force capable of breaking Tinubu’s growing dominance?
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