Former Labour Party vice-presidential candidate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has described the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari as the most corrupt government Nigeria has experienced.
Baba-Ahmed made the allegation while speaking on MIC On Podcast With Seun Okinbaloye, where he was asked to assess President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, including the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market.
He argued that even well-designed government policies could fail if corruption remained deeply rooted in the system.
“Whatever policy, however beautiful it is you bring, that is laced with corruption, it will never work,” Baba-Ahmed said.
He attributed what he described as Buhari’s failure in office largely to corruption, while acknowledging the former president’s death.
“Why did Buhari fail so spectacularly? It’s because of corruption, I’m sorry. May his soul be rest in peace. All of us are on that journey, and we’ll go and account for what we did,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed further criticised the former administration, describing it as both highly corrupt and immoral.
“There has never been a corrupt government like Buhari’s government, and immoral government like Buhari’s government.”
The former vice-presidential candidate also connected his criticism of Buhari to the conduct of the 2023 presidential election.
He claimed Buhari had pledged to deliver a free and fair election but alleged that the handling of the electronic transmission and collation of results fell short of that promise.
“After failing in all the indices that he said, he went to hunger. He promised that I have failed in ABC, but I promise you a free and fair, legit election. What did we see on that Wednesday before the Saturday’s election in 2023?” he asked.
Baba-Ahmed alleged that the electronic results platform was switched off during the election, leading officials to record results manually.
“Late Baba Buhari of blessed memory was promising the whole world this election would be credible. On Saturday, they switched off IREV, and they were writing the results by hand, and they violated the constitution,” he alleged.
Turning to Tinubu’s economic policies, Baba-Ahmed maintained that the current administration would face similar difficulties if corruption continued to undermine government policies.
“So, to answer your question, whatever policies you bring, so long as there is corruption, you are wasting your time, and that is exactly what happened,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed was the running mate to Peter Obi on the Labour Party platform during the 2023 presidential election. The pair finished third behind Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party.