Datti Baba-Ahmed.
Datti-Baba Ahmed, the 2023 Labour Party (LP) vice-presidential candidate, will make further damaging revelations about the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, if his supporters continue attacking him over his comments on the former Anambra State governor.
Baba-Ahmed issued the warning while reacting to the backlash that followed his claim that Obi and his proposed running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, might struggle to secure support in northern Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview with Symfoni TV, the former vice-presidential candidate said his position was informed by his personal experience of the challenges Obi faced in gaining acceptance among northern voters during the 2023 presidential campaign.
He expressed concern that some supporters of Obi, popularly known as Obidients, were quick to attack people who expressed opinions contrary to theirs.
Said he: “First, these people (Obidients) are always eager to attack. I said it is very unlikely that the North will support Peter Obi, very unlikely, because I know what I have faced”.
Baba-Ahmed recalled that shortly after joining Obi on the Labour Party presidential ticket in 2022, he had to contend with allegations that the former Governor’s administration in Anambra State discriminated against northerners by requiring them to carry identification cards.
He also cited controversies surrounding the demolition of a mosque in Anambra State and a leaked telephone conversation between Obi and the founder of Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo, in which the former Governor repeatedly addressed the cleric as “Yes Daddy”.
Baba-Ahmed said the controversies created difficulties for the Labour Party’s campaign in northern communities, forcing him to work to counter the allegations and mobilise support for Obi.
He questioned how Kwankwaso, who reportedly confronted Obi over the allegations of discrimination against northerners during a visit to Anambra State, would explain the issues to voters in Kano.
Stated he: “I wonder how Kwankwaso, who flew from Kano to Anambra to go and challenge Peter Obi: ‘Why are you driving (out northerners from your state)?’ You know that kind of thing. How will he now go to Kano and contradict himself, ‘No, no, no, it is not what happened?’”
Baba-Ahmed said he personally took Obi’s campaign to several northern locations, including Borno, Kano and Zaria, to address the controversies and market the former Governor to voters.
Said he: “I smuggled him to Borno, to the Caliphate, to Kano, to Zaria to market him. So I sorted that problem of ID card, mosque demolition, ‘Yes Daddy’”.
He maintained that the controversies surrounding the 2023 campaign could still affect Obi’s acceptance in the North, insisting that his assessment of the region’s likely response to an Obi-Kwankwaso ticket remained unchanged.
The former vice-presidential candidate, however, warned Obi’s supporters against directing further attacks at him, saying he had more damaging information he could disclose.
Cautioned he: “They (Obidients) shouldn’t start that nonsense with me that they will start attacking me because I have more damaging things to say”.
