Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, has stated that violent events in Kaduna were linked to the 2015 election, as reported by The Sun on Wednesday, 3 September, 2025.
He recalled that former President Muhammadu Buhari decided to run for election in 2015 after previously stating he would not.
Baba-Ahmed said he questioned why Buhari chose to run again and what the connection was to the violence that followed.
Baba-Ahmed also shared his personal experience from 2011, when he contested alongside Buhari for a Senate seat.
He said Buhari made a statement that “the blood of the baboons will be soaked in blood,” which is recorded on YouTube.
Baba-Ahmed said that because of this comment, he refused to campaign with Buhari, even though it could have affected his own chances in the election, he later won the election on his own merit.
He said that the comment and the rhetoric used by leaders were linked to serious violence in Kaduna.
According to him, many houses were burnt and lives were disrupted as a result.
Baba-Ahmed described the events as unprecedented and deeply concerning.
He stated that leaders’ words carry weight and can influence actions on the ground.
In this case, he suggested that inflammatory statements contributed to the unrest in Kaduna during the election period.
“Why did you decide to run for election in 2015 after saying you would not run again? What was the link? I contested alongside the late President Buhari for Senate in 2011. We have it on YouTube where he said the blood of the baboons will be soaked in blood. When he made that comment, I refused to campaign with him. It didn’t matter if I lost the election. I won it eventually. For a former President to say something will be soaked in blood, then there was serious violence on Kaduna, many houses were burnt,” he said.
