Labour Party’s 2023 Vice Presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, has said that the root of Nigeria’s current insecurity problems can be traced back to the desperate efforts to remove former President Goodluck Jonathan from office in 2015.
Datti made this claim during an appearance on Politics Today, a political programme aired on Channels Television on Tuesday.
According to him, the situation Nigeria faces today — from terrorism to banditry — has deep political roots and did not start by accident.
“They went and brought people from neighbouring countries in readiness to remove Jonathan,” Datti said. “That’s where the insecurity started. What we are seeing today is a product of that desperation.”
“I Refused to Campaign with Buhari After His Bloodbath Comment”
Datti Baba-Ahmed also recalled his time as a Senatorial candidate in 2011, when he contested under the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the same party as Muhammadu Buhari, who later became President.
He said he parted ways with Buhari after the former military ruler made a controversial remark that sounded like a threat of violence if the election did not go his way.
“I contested with the late former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2011. But ever since he made a security threat comment, I refused to go out with him,” Datti said.
He was referring to a well-known comment allegedly made by Buhari in 2011, where the former general warned that “people would be soaked in blood” if the election was rigged. The comment drew national criticism and was followed by post-election violence, especially in the North.
“It didn’t matter if I lost the Senate seat, but I won it eventually,” Datti added. “Kaduna is my state. There was serious violence in Kaduna. Many houses were burnt.”
Nigeria’s security challenges worsened after 2015, particularly with the rise of Boko Haram insurgency, bandit attacks, kidnappings, and farmers-herders clashes. Many security experts and observers have often linked the worsening situation to poor management, unregulated weapons, and porous borders.
However, Datti’s comments take the discussion a step further by claiming that foreign fighters were allegedly brought in to help remove Jonathan — a move he says planted the seeds of chaos now affecting all parts of the country.
Datti’s remarks have stirred reactions online and among political watchers, especially as they come at a time when the country is still grappling with high levels of insecurity, from attacks in the North-West and Middle Belt, to rising crime in the South-East and South-West.
While the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are yet to respond, analysts believe Datti’s comments could spark renewed debate about the true origins of Nigeria’s current security crisis and how politics may have played a damaging role.
