By Bayo Wahab
Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesperson for the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has said Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed may be suffering from 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 remarks during an interview on Arise TV’s Daybreak on Tuesday while reacting to Baba-Ahmed’s recent claim that none of the leading presidential candidates for the 2027 election, including Obi, has the capacity to improve Nigeria.
According to Okonkwo, Baba-Ahmed’s experience with Obi and the collapse of the political structure they ran on in 2023 may have affected his perception 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 those who participated in the 2023 campaign entered the political movement with high expectations that it would produce 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.
Okonkwo said the support Obi received during the 2023 election was unusual because, according to him, many people joined the movement primarily because of what they could contribute rather than what they could gain.
“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, attributed the eventual disillusionment among some members of the movement to what he described as the “incompetence and incapacity” of Obi to manage the affairs of the Labour Party.
“So, if such an association ends the way the Labour Party ended, you will see everybody coming out with political trauma, because that spoke of incompetence and incapacity of the political leader then called Peter Obi to manage the affairs,” Okonkwo said.
According to him, supporters had provided the resources needed for the political project but expected 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.
Okonkwo further referenced Baba-Ahmed’s previous comments that he could no longer help Obi after the Labour Party experience, interpreting the statement as evidence that the former vice-presidential candidate had lost confidence in Obi.
“That was why in his (Baba-Ahmed) 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,” he added.
Baba-Ahmed, who was Obi’s running mate in the 2023 presidential election, recently said none of the leading contenders for the 2027 presidency had the capacity to move Nigeria forward, arguing that several of them had previously been part of the political establishment he blamed for the country’s current situation.
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