The 2023 Labour Party vice-presidential candidate, Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed, has attributed Nigeria’s lingering insecurity to what he described as the “desperate efforts” to unseat former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme on Tuesday, Baba-Ahmed recalled that the seeds of the nation’s security challenges were sown long before Jonathan was removed from power.
“I contested against the late former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2011. But from the moment he made that infamous security threat comment, I distanced myself from him,” Baba-Ahmed said.
He alleged that Buhari’s statement — warning that Nigerians would be “soaked in blood” — sparked widespread violence, particularly in his home state of Kaduna, where lives were lost and properties destroyed.
“Kaduna witnessed serious violence. Many houses were burnt. They even brought in people from neighbouring countries in readiness to remove Jonathan,” Baba-Ahmed claimed.
The former lawmaker insisted that the desperation to oust Jonathan at all costs created the foundation for the insecurity still ravaging Nigeria today.