During the electioneering campaign for Muhammadu Buhari before the 2015 presidential elections, there was an unconfirmed report that the domestic staffs of Buhari were Christians and that they were from the south. His supporters used this narrative to validate his perceived detribalized personality. They argued that if he could entrust his food and personal upkeep to southerners, he can be trusted to unite Nigeria which was deeply divided along ethnic and religious lines. None of them gave cogent reasons for his multiple symptoms of dementia and previous inability to successfully lead organizations he was entrusted to lead. Eight years later, Buhari has left no one in doubt about who he is, to the point where his wife had to recently apologize to Nigerians for the failure of her husband’s government. The same script is at play for Tinubu health-wise and otherwise.

This brings to mind the personality of Peter Obi’s running mate – Datti Baba Ahmed. This has become necessary because a small segment of Nigerians who are not from the Southeast still distrust what a Peter Obi presidency would look like. There is even more ground for this when you take into consideration the historical failures of African leaders who promised so much but achieved so little. Before and after the Nigeria University Commission (NUC) approved Baze University – the university founded by Datti Baba Ahmed, I was the official photographer. This responsibility gave me direct access to him. At that time, he had multiple responsibilities as a legislator, businessman, active day-to-day chancellor, and family man. I was amazed at how he juggled these tasking responsibilities individually successfully.

During a one-on-one with him on our way to the university in his Porsche Cayenne, I asked how he was able to pull this off almost effortlessly from my external observation. His answer was very instructive, and it reinforces in my mind today the opportunity before us in the coming presidential election. At that time his confidential secretary, accountant, and other key staffs were Christian, and Southerners like me. I never knew I would be speaking and writing about any Nigerian politician in the language I have written about Peter Obi and Datti Baba Ahmed. This is because again Nigerian and African politicians continue to fail us. But we are in perilous times – kidnapping, killings, and wholesale corruption are no longer news. Many of us have gotten to the point where we just glance through such headlines without any concern. We need physically and mentally fit individuals whose health and source of wealth are not a product of the disease called corruption we are trying to fix. In this sense, no team comes close to the Labour Party team. Individually, Peter Obi or Datti Baba Ahmed, I believe can run the Herculean task of resetting Nigeria. I say this carefully because of my personal experience with the man Datti Baba Ahmed.

Ata Ukuta, Editor – Towncryyers