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The Vice-Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Datti Baba-Ahmed, has said that anyone seeking to defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 polls must be prepared for intense resistance rather than relying on the courts.
Baba-Ahmed made the remarks during a recent interview, where he reflected on the aftermath of the 2023 presidential election.
The former senator revealed that he had warned the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, that the judiciary could not resolve what he described as fundamental breaches of the Nigerian Constitution allegedly committed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the elections.
“I told Peter Obi that the Supreme Court cannot give you a governorship or the presidency. For God’s sake, stand up and do something. The Nigerian Constitution was clearly breached — Section 134(2)(b). It couldn’t be any clearer,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed argued that similar constitutional violations would not be tolerated by other political interests in the country, citing the June 12 struggle as an example.
“If it were the June 12 people, and you breached not just the constitution but even one punctuation mark against their interest, nobody would sleep. They would take action,” he said.
While expressing his dislike for what he described as selective use of the constitution, Baba-Ahmed acknowledged the determination of political opponents to protect their interests.
“As much as I dislike the way they use the constitution, you must give it to them — they fight for their interests. They can organise rallies and sustain them for decades, yet you are saying, ‘Let’s go to court,’” he added.
According to him, defeating President Tinubu in 2027 would require what he described as “red eye” — a readiness to resist electoral malpractice decisively.
“Whoever is going to defeat Tinubu must be ready to show ‘red eyes.’ On the day results are being declared, those announcing fake results are criminals, and those stopping fake results are good citizens,” Baba-Ahmed said.
He concluded by insisting that reliance on the courts alone would not be enough. “Whoever is going to defeat Tinubu must show red eyes. There’s no going to court,” he said.
