Why I accepted to be Peter Obi’s running mate – Datti Baba-Ahmed
Datti Baba-Ahmed, running mate of Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, said he accepted to team up with the former Governor of Anambra State because he believed in his capacity to make Nigeria live up to its billing.
He spoke on the occasion of his formal unveiling in Abuja on Friday.
He stated that he also trusted that Obi would not mismanage the nation’s wealth, adding that the Labour Party candidate’s outing as Anambra governor lent credence to that.
The Director General of the Peter Obi Campaign Organization, Dr Doyin Okupe, who had been a Vice Presidential candidate placeholder, stepped down on Thursday.
His resignation was to pave the way for the substantive running mate from the northern extraction to balance the geopolitical and religious considerations.
The Labour Party entered into alliance talks with the Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s New Nigeria Peoples Party, (NNPP).
However, the talks collapsed due to the inability of the parties to agree on who would be the eventual flag bearer if the arrangements had worked.
Obi’s candidature has received massive acceptance across the country especially among the youths and has morphed into a campaign known as #Obidient Movement with the slogan: #TakeBackNaija.
The Labour Party presidential running mate, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed is a 46 year old academic, businessman and politician.
He was a member of the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007, and was elected Senator for Kaduna North, in Kaduna State, in April 2011 running on the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) ticket, with a remarkable record for sponsoring important bills and motions in short time.
In 2011, Senator Baba-Ahmed established Baze University, an independent university located in Abuja, and Baba-Ahmed University, Kano (Awaiting License).
In 2015, Baba-Ahmed was appointed as Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Hope Alive Foundation, which campaigns for post-service economic survival of corps members who suffered permanent disability during service. (Adapted report from Daily Trust)
