The National Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has warned that Nigeria could face a serious threat to its democracy if the 2027 presidential election fails to meet the standards of a free, fair and credible contest.
Baba-Ahmed, who also predicted that President Bola Tinubu would lose if the poll is properly conducted, said millions of Nigerians were waiting for an opportunity to express their anger through voting.
The PRP leader made the comments on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, placing the credibility of the election above his prediction of a change of government.
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“If it is not (credible), I foresee a very serious threat to Nigeria’s democracy. There are people out there, millions who are very, very angry,” Baba-Ahmed said.
He said Nigerians must be allowed to use the ballot to express their feelings, warning that tampering with that opportunity could endanger the country’s future.
Anger and the ballot
Baba-Ahmed said a credible election would produce a defeat for Tinubu, though he gave no suggestion that removing the ruling party from power would be easy.
“If it is a credible, free and fair election, I assure you Tinubu will lose. I won’t say before 12 noon, maybe before 4 p.m. in the evening,” he said.
He pointed to the recent governorship election in Osun State, where Governor Ademola Adeleke won re-election on the Accord Party platform after defeating the APC candidate.
For Baba-Ahmed, the Osun result offered an example of how an incumbent political force could be beaten, although he acknowledged the scale of the challenge facing parties hoping to defeat the APC nationally.
The PRP chairman painted the APC as a political machine with substantial control around the presidency. He said Tinubu had the backing of about 31 governors and roughly 75 per cent of members of the National Assembly through his party.
That level of political support, he said, had made the President exceptionally powerful.
Baba-Ahmed also said Tinubu appeared to retain fears that his political control was still insufficient.
“APC is a monster eating itself up and eating everybody up,” he said, before listing the President’s influence within government and the legislature.
He said the President had been given enormous powers by people around him, including influence over the National Assembly, yet still appeared uncomfortable with the amount of authority already available to him.
INEC under scrutiny
The PRP chairman also criticised Tinubu over his recent defence of the Independent National Electoral Commission against allegations of bias.
Baba-Ahmed maintained that praise for INEC should wait until the commission conducts an election involving the President himself.
His position places the conduct of the 2027 presidential poll under close political scrutiny, with the PRP chairman insisting that the credibility of the exercise could determine whether Nigerians accept the outcome through the democratic process.
Baba-Ahmed’s warning came with a direct message about public frustration and electoral participation: citizens angry with the state of the country, he said, should be allowed to express themselves peacefully at the ballot box.
“Play around that, and you are playing around with the future of this country,” he said.
The PRP chairman’s forecast of Tinubu’s defeat therefore rested on one condition he repeatedly stressed, that the 2027 election must be credible, free and fair.
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