Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, former special adviser on political matters to Vice-President Kashim Shettima, says he did not feel wanted by the Bola Tinubu administration.

Baba-Ahmed resigned his appointment in the presidency in March.

Speaking on ‘Prime Time’, a programme on Arise TV on Monday, Baba-Ahmed said he would have stayed longer if the job was solely about him.

“If it was all about me, quite possibly I would have stayed longer. But I felt I could have been a lot more useful to the country and to the administration,” he said.

“I believe also, I don’t like for this thing to sound boastful, I believe I had something to offer. Because the reason why they asked me to go there, not to sit idle and to watch a lot of things going wrong, you don’t have an opportunity to fix them.

“You don’t have an opportunity to engage the president who has all the powers to be engaged. You don’t have any channel.”

Baba-Ahmed said while he met Shettima nearly every working day, that was not enough.

“I saw the vice-president virtually every working day. We talked, we discussed the country. But Nigeria requires a lot more than talking with the vice-president,” he said.

“I think I met him, I saw him three times in the mosque in the villa and we shook hands. But I never had a chance to sit down with President Tinubu.

“I honestly don’t know. I think part of the problem is that he never really had time for people like us. I’m not sure he had time for a lot of the people working for him.”

He described the president as “genuinely isolated” and said it was either by choice or due to unknown circumstances.

“The president really is genuinely isolated, whether it’s by choice or by circumstances we don’t understand,” he said.

“The bottom line is he ought to be available to a lot more of the people that he has trusted, either to run ministries or departments or to advise him. And he isn’t. And that’s a problem for the country, not so much for him.

“But it’s a lot because the president of Nigeria is a hugely powerful person and he has massive responsibility on his shoulders.

“So if he’s not going to look for solutions to problems from people that he had appointed, there are only two options left. Is he getting advice from the wrong people? Or is he getting no advice at all?”

‘DIFFERENT WORLDS’

The former spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) said people around the president seem detached from reality.

“When you hear people close to him speak about Nigeria, it’s as if we live in two different worlds,” he said.

“That is the most frustrating thing for me. We would leave the villa, we would go home. We would watch real people, and sometimes we would drive around, we’d go home, we’d see, we’d mix with the poor people.

“We knew how desperate the country is, how desperately life is, difficult life is, the insecurity level, how high it is.

“People were losing hope, asking what is the value of this democracy, and sometimes they say, ‘what are you doing there? We thought with people like you, we wouldn’t be seeing some of these things.

“At least, are you guys really advising the president about some of these things?’”

Baba-Ahmed said Nigeria would fare better if the president was more open to counsel.

“I believe if President Tinubu was more open to suggestions and advice and if he has higher quality of people handling sensitive positions for him, and he makes himself available to them, and they talk to him, and he tells them, they tell him what they think, I think the country will be better,” he added.

In an open letter to the president on April 23, Baba-Ahmed urged Tinubu to shelve his re-election bid.

“Step aside — not for your opponents, but for a new generation of Nigerians who can carry the nation forward with fresh energy and ideas,” he wrote.

Baba-Ahmed recently said the north would unveil its position on the 2027 presidency in the next six months.

“We know nobody will become president without the north,” he had stated.

On Monday, the Federal High Court in Abuja imposed a fine of N150,000 on Samuel Anyanwu, the national secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for delaying the judgment related to his lawsuit challenging his impending removal.

Justice Inyang Ekwo levied the fine after Anyanwu’s attorney, Ken Njemanze, SAN, requested the court’s permission to file a motion to amend the lawsuit, despite the fact that the case was already scheduled for judgment.

Justice Ekwo scheduled a hearing for the motion on May 19 and mandated that the fine be settled before the next court date.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Justice Ekwo had set the judgment date for March 25, following the completion of arguments from both Mr. Njemanze and the defense attorneys regarding the case aimed at preventing Anyanwu’s removal as the PDP’s national secretary.

Additionally, the judge instructed Mr. Njemanze to provide the court with the Supreme Court’s ruling issued on March 21 within seven days.

NAN further reports that on March 21, the Supreme Court annulled the Court of Appeal’s decision from December 20, 2024, which had upheld Anyanwu’s removal as the PDP’s national secretary.

In a unanimous ruling by a five-member panel, the Supreme Court asserted that issues concerning the leadership and membership of political parties are internal matters and should not be subject to judicial oversight, stating that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction over the initial case brought by party member Aniagwu Emmanuel.

The Supreme Court’s judgment, anticipated to resolve the ongoing crisis, has instead left the PDP’s leadership and its members in turmoil, as both Anyanwu and Sunday Ude-Okoye now claim the position of legitimate national secretary following the ruling.

In his original filing, Anyanwu had named the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Umar Damagun, the acting National Chairman of the PDP, as the first and second defendants.

In the ex-parte motion labeled FHC/ABJ/CS/254/2025, submitted by Mr. Njemanze on February 13, Anyanwu sought two requests:

1. An interim injunction preventing INEC from accepting or acting on any correspondence from the PDP not signed by him until the hearing and resolution of the motion for an interlocutory injunction.
2. An interim injunction restraining Mr. Damagun from sending any correspondence purportedly from the PDP signed solely by him without Anyanwu’s countersignature.

On February 28, the court added the PDP and Mr. Udeh-Okoye as third and fourth defendants, respectively, along with Ali Odela and Setonji Koshoedo as the fifth and sixth defendants, with Odela being the national vice chairman for the PDP South-East and Koshoedo serving as the party’s deputy national secretary.

During the hearing, Mr. Njemanze acknowledged that the case was fixed for judgment but stated he had a motion to amend their original submission to clarify the issues at stake.

Justice Ekwo questioned the appropriateness of introducing an amendment on the judgment date, to which Njemanze responded by citing Order 17, Rule 1 of the Federal High Court, which grants the court discretionary power to amend processes before judgment.

The judge inquired if the defendants had been served, to which INEC’s counsel, Ahmed Mohammed, confirmed receipt but indicated they would not respond. Akintayo Balogun, representing Mr. Damagun, noted that while they had been served, the application could not be considered as the court was scheduled for judgment.

E.E. Ekere, representing Mr. Udeh-Okoye, confirmed they were served and intended to respond, while J.A. Musa, counsel for Mr. Koshoedo, asserted they had not received service. However, Mr. Njemanze maintained that all defendants had been duly served.

Consequently, Justice Ekwo adjourned the case until May 19 for the motion hearing and enforced the N150,000 fine against the plaintiff’s counsel due to the disruption of the proceedings, mandating payment before the next adjourned date.

(NAN)

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas has warned that wealthy individuals are turning political parties into personal investments, undermining the democratic process.

Speaking at a technical workshop on the Political Parties Bill (HB1862) in Abuja, Abbas highlighted the absence of ideological foundations in Nigerian political parties, describing them as vehicles for power control rather than democratic institutions.

The workshop, organised by Yiaga Africa and The Kukah Centre with funding from the European Union, focused on addressing gaps in political party regulation.

Represented by Rt. Ishaya David Lalu, Abbas stressed that democracy cannot thrive without internal democratic processes for candidate selection.

“In Nigeria, political parties are not founded on any principle or ideology,” he said, noting that they often serve as platforms for power-sharing among elites rather than promoting public interest.

The proposed Political Parties Bill aims to enhance transparency and accountability by establishing an independent body to regulate party activities, including campaign financing.

Abbas argued that such measures would curb the influence of “moneybags” who hijack parties or impose candidates during elections.

He cited the United States’ Federal Election Commission and the United Kingdom’s Electoral Commission as models for effective regulation, contrasting them with Nigeria’s current system, where the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) lacks robust legislative backing to oversee party funding.

In his welcome remarks,Hon. Zakari Dauda Nyampa, Chairman of the House Committee on Political Matters, echoed Abbas’ concerns, noting that unregulated primaries often lead to crises within parties.

“This bill is key to ensuring accountability, transparency, and proper regulation of political party funding,” he said, underscoring its importance for Nigeria’s evolving democracy.

In his goodwill message,Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, emphasised Nigeria’s strategic importance in African politics, warning that weak political parties undermine democracy.

“Our parties are built around individuals, not institutions, making them easily captured,” Itodo said, advocating for stronger systems to ensure ideological coherence and public participation.

Also at the event,Alhaji Yusuf Dantalle, National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), called for greater public engagement with the bill, noting that it has yet to be uploaded online for scrutiny.

He stressed the need for stakeholders to thoroughly assess the legislation to ensure it reflects citizens’ aspirations. IPAC plans to convene a General Assembly to discuss the bill and present its position to the National Assembly.

On his part ,Fr. Atta Barkindo, Executive Director of The Kukah Centre, described the bill as a timely opportunity to strengthen internal democracy and institutionalise overdue reforms.

“The quality of political party operations directly impacts the integrity of our elections,” he said.