A former presidential adviser, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has described the newly formed All Democratic Alliance (ADA) as lacking the vision, credibility, and leadership necessary to challenge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
Speaking during a national television programme on Monday, Baba-Ahmed criticized the coalition as “uninspiring and self-serving,” arguing that it is being driven by political actors who are ideologically indistinguishable from those in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The people who are leading the attempts to create an alternative to the APC—I’m not sure they’re any better than the APC itself. That is the big disappointment,” he said.
“They’re not willing to think outside the box and create a real, genuine alternative. What they are doing is simply handing over 2027 to President Tinubu.”
Baba-Ahmed, who once served as a senior aide in the current administration, said he was neither involved in nor informed about the formation of the ADA. He also voiced serious doubts about the coalition’s structure and its lack of broad-based ideological clarity.
“It’s a coalition of a few politicians who hope they can arrive at some understanding and then say, ‘Okay, fellow Nigerians, we’ve agreed. This one will be this and that one will be that.’ It’s the wrong way about it,” he said.
He warned that many of the figures spearheading the ADA—including a former vice president, ex-governors, and ministers—are political veterans whose reputations do not inspire public confidence or hope for transformation.
“What Nigeria needs is not just a change of faces but a generational and ideological overhaul,” he insisted.
“They don’t have faith that you represent a future—a different future from this government. You just want to replace President Tinubu.”
Baba-Ahmed further expressed concern about the legal and bureaucratic hurdles involved in forming a new political party in time for the 2027 elections. He noted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not approved any new party registrations in recent years and is currently grappling with a significant backlog of applications.
“Unless a miracle happens, they forgot there are huge numbers of applications before INEC, and INEC hasn’t registered any party for a long time,” he stated.
With less than two years to the next general election, Baba-Ahmed’s remarks cast doubt on the readiness and legitimacy of ADA to serve as a true opposition force—raising broader questions about the future of Nigeria’s political landscape.
