Atiku's Coalition: Baba-Ahmed Mentions Southern Politicians Plotting to Unseat Tinubu Ahead of 2027

• Former presidential adviser, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has addressed speculations surrounding the Atiku-led northern coalition involving top southern politicians
• Ahead of the 2027 election, he downplayed the claims that northern politicians were solely driving the emerging opposition coalition against President Bola Tinubu’s administration
• In an interview on Monday, Baba-Ahmed explained the role Tinubu played in the 2025 election, which led to the defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former political adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has dismissed the claim that only northern politicians were behind the coalition against the current government.

Legit.ng had reported how opposition leaders under the coalition movement applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the ADA as a political party ahead of the 2027 election.

Baba-Ahmed, who recently resigned from his appointment as Tinubu’s adviser, said the political coalition spearheaded by former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is not a northerners’ affair.

The former presidential aide spoke during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, June 23, 2025.

As reported by Vanguard, he said the sentiment that northern politicians are fond of establishing alliances against a southerner in power stemmed from the political coalition that birthed the now-ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013.

The coalition defeated the Goodluck Jonathan-led government in the 2015 presidential election, leading to the emergence of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Amaechi, Aregbesola involved in Atiku's coalition

However, Baba-Ahmed, speaking on Monday, June 23, dismissed the narrative that northern political leaders ‘gang up’ to create coalitions each time a southerner is in power, Vanguard reported.

When asked why political coalitions only happen when a southerner leads the country, Baba-Ahmed said political alliances are not new in Nigeria, adding that all the coalitions that have happened in the country involved southerners.

“There are southerners involved in this talk about coalitions, too. You know Governor Amaechi is there, the former governor of Osun State (Rauf Aregbesola) is there. There are a lot of people from the southern part of the country.

“They love the south too, they don’t want to be second to the north. They are there. It’s not every time that when a Southerner is there, there have always been talks about coalitions,” he said.

Coalition: Tinubu instrumental in Jonathan's defeat - Baba-Ahmed

Recalling how the coalition that defeated Jonathan’s government was formed, Baba-Ahmed said President Tinubu, a southerner, was instrumental in its formation.

“We formed a coalition in 2011/2012 with a southerner. His name is President Tinubu now. He gave us his bit of the of Nigeria, and we formed a coalition between the AD and the CPC, and we created the APC. It’s not a new thing. There have always been coalitions always,” he recalled.

Read more about 2027 election here:

• 2027 election: Goodluck Jonathan, 6 other people who could challenge Tinubu, full list emerges
• Shettima: "The only person who can choose Tinubu’s running mate in 2027," APC chieftain explains

Baba-Ahmed speaks on alleged Tinubu-Shettima rift

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Hakeem Baba-Ahmed clarified the alleged rift in the presidency.

Baba-Ahmed, who recently resigned as the presidential aide, responded to the question on the claim that Shettima was being systematically sidelined in the presidency.

He said he did not notice any rift between Tinubu and Shettima when he was serving in that office.

Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng