*Baba-Ahmed asks Obi to denounce IPOB before accepting VP role – Jaafar Jaafar
The Labour Party (LP) will this Friday unveil Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed as running mate to its presidential candidate, Dr. Peter Obi, the National Chairman of the party, Barrister Julius Abure, has said.
Baba-Ahmed, who is the Proprietor of Baze University, Abuja and Baba-Ahmed University Kano, was a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) until recently.
The unveiling of the vice-presidential candidate was initially slated for Thursday at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja. Abure said the ceremony was postponed because Obi, who travelled to Maiduguri and was expected back in Abuja Thursday afternoon, had his flight cancelled.
Abure announced that the unveiling of Obi’s running mate is rescheduled to hold at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
A side and yet to be officially verified information flying around on social media has it that Baba-Ahmed had given Obi and the party conditions before he could accept to be running mate to the Labour Party’s presidential candidate.
Prominent among the conditions is that Obi would publicly denounce the terrorist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Although neither the party nor Obi has commented to either confirm or debunk the claim, coming from a noticable Journalist, columnist and publisher, Jaafar Jaafar, makes many view the information as healthy.
“Peter Obi has reached out to some Northern politicians in search of VP. Top among them is Datti Baba-Ahmed, who set conditions before accepting the offer. Credible sources said the conditions include open denunciation of IPOB and secession by Obi,_ Jaafar Jaafar posted on his Twitter handle @JaafarSJaafar.
While this was yet to be confirmed as at press time, we can comfortably report that neither the party had made any statement concerning such conditions nor had Obi publicly commented on them.
In the meantime, Obi’s supporters on Twitter have been jubilating over the catch by their idol, as they lavished praises on him, a media report said.
Yusuf Datti-Ahmed was born in 1975 and is a Nigerian economist and politician who served as Senator for Kaduna North from 2011 to 2012 and member of the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2007.
Baba-Ahmed is from the prominent Baba-Ahmed family of Zaria and graduated from the University of Maiduguri.
Baba-Ahmed has a BSc and MSc in Economics from the University of Maiduguri in Borno State.
He worked in the security Printing and Minting, Lagos before entering politics.
In 2006, while a Federal representative, he earned the title of Doctor of Philosophy when he completed his Ph.D studies at the University of Westminster.
Baba-Ahmed was popular for his principled activism. During the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, he was among lawmakers who opposed letting Obasanjo run for a third term.
In May 2006 he said he would not run for re-election unless action was taken to investigate allegations that members had been bribed to support the constitutional changes needed for a third term presidency.
In 2007 he took the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court over conduct of past elections. He was known for speaking out against corruption.
Ahmed is founder and Pro–Chancellor of Baze University, an privately owned university located in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria, which opened in April 2011.
