Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesperson for the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has said Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed may be experiencing what he described as a “post-political identity crisis” following his experience as Peter Obi’s running mate in the 2023 presidential election.
Okonkwo made the comment on Tuesday during an interview on Arise TV’s Daybreak, while reacting to Baba-Ahmed’s recent assessment of the leading contenders for the 2027 presidential election.
Baba-Ahmed had said none of the major presidential candidates, including Obi, had the capacity to improve Nigeria.
Reacting, Okonkwo said Baba-Ahmed’s experience with Obi and the subsequent crisis within the Labour Party may have influenced his current view of the former Anambra State governor.
“I understand why he made his comment about Peter Obi, because we were in the same trenches together, and I can tell you that he may be suffering from what I call post-political identity crisis,” Okonkwo said.
He said many people who joined Obi’s political movement in 2023 did so with the expectation that it would usher in a new political direction for Nigeria.
“After working with Peter Obi, you run the risk of suffering that, because we all came in in 2023 with high hopes, and we thought that a new Nigeria is birthed,” he said.
According to Okonkwo, the 2023 movement was unusual because many supporters joined without expecting personal benefits.
“For the first time in my life, I saw people coming into an association for what they can give, and nobody was talking about what he can take, what he can receive,” he said.
He, however, blamed what he described as the “incompetence and incapacity” of Obi for the eventual breakdown of the political structure within the Labour Party.
Okonkwo said the supporters had provided resources for the political project but expected effective leadership in return.
“When everything is provided for you, the people are willing to do something for you. They were willing to provide resources. They were only asking for one thing, and that’s leadership. And you could not provide it,” he said.
He also referred to Baba-Ahmed’s previous statement that he could no longer do anything for Obi after the Labour Party crisis, saying it showed that the former vice-presidential candidate had lost confidence in Obi.
“That was why in his own words, he said after Labour Party, he couldn’t do anything again for Peter Obi. In other words, after what happened in Labour Party, I lost confidence in him. I was there with him,” Okonkwo added.
Baba-Ahmed was Obi’s running mate on the Labour Party ticket in the 2023 presidential election.
He recently questioned the capacity of the leading contenders for the 2027 presidency to transform Nigeria, arguing that some of them had previously been part of the political establishment responsible for the country’s current challenges.
