According to a report by Daily Post on Monday, May 4, 2025, former Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu in the Office of the Vice President, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has voiced strong opposition to the prevailing political tradition that a president must serve two terms in office, describing it as harmful to Nigeria’s progress.
He criticized the growing sentiment that the South must also produce a president who will serve eight years, simply because former President Muhammadu Buhari, from the North, did the same.
Baba-Ahmed questioned the rationale behind this logic, asserting that it is one of the many “poisonous” elements destroying Nigerian politics.
“Now you hear things like he must do his eight years, what about the South? We have taken to very crude politics and put it on the constitution where everyone is saying the South must have its eight years because Buhari did. Where is this thing coming from?” he asked.
He explained that during Buhari’s presidency, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and other regional groups, including Ohanaeze and Afenifere, openly opposed his bid for a second term after concluding he had failed to perform.
Baba-Ahmed lamented that political office is increasingly seen as a regional entitlement rather than a national responsibility tied to performance.
He warned that clinging to power despite health, age, or competence concerns merely because of one’s regional origin is a mindset that keeps Nigeria in decline.
“Even if you can’t perform, what if you have health or age issues, must you remain president for eight years simply because you come from one part of the country? This is the kind of thinking that keeps us declining permanently,”
Speaking more broadly on the 2027 general elections, Baba-Ahmed called on major political figures like Peter Obi, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Bola Tinubu, and Atiku Abubakar to step aside and allow a new generation of leaders to emerge.
He maintained that these political veterans have exhausted their relevance, having dominated the political climes for decades without delivering meaningful change.
He argued that Nigeria needs fresh leadership with the vision, energy, and commitment to confront the country’s deepening challenges, rather than recycling “tired and elderly politicians” who have simply been managing power for the last 20 to 30 years.
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