Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Gabriel Osa
The 2023 Labour Party vice-presidential candidate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has alleged that the rise in terrorism and insecurity across Nigeria was fueled by political actors within the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Baba-Ahmed made the claim during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday night, accusing former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, of hypocrisy and complicity in Nigeria’s lingering security crisis.
According to him, associates of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had attempted to recruit militants across Africa to defend his regime before his death, and remnants of that network later contributed to Nigeria’s security challenges during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
“The truth is that somebody had gone to North Africa negotiating with Gaddafi,” Baba-Ahmed said. “Gaddafi was an international terrorist. He sent emissaries with millions of dollars to recruit fighters. When he died, those funds and networks remained active, and some of them eventually became linked to Nigeria’s insecurity. They wanted the country to burn if Buhari did not become president in 2015.”
The former senator, who contested for the Senate in 2011 when Muhammadu Buhari ran for president, accused Buhari and his allies of heightening political tension through inflammatory rhetoric.
“After Buhari made the statement about the ‘dog and baboon being soaked in blood,’ I refused to campaign for him,” he said. “That rhetoric fueled violence in Kaduna and other parts of the North after the 2011 elections.”
Baba-Ahmed alleged that external fighters were recruited from neighboring countries during the 2011 post-election violence, claiming it was part of a broader political effort to oust then-President Jonathan.
He also linked his family’s experience with banditry to politically motivated insecurity, recalling the abduction of his nephew last year.
“When he was released, what he said wasn’t different from what Nasir El-Rufai has been saying,” Baba-Ahmed stated. “These people are not earning much from the government; they survive through criminal activities.”
He accused El-Rufai of attempting to distance himself from a crisis he allegedly helped create.
“My issue with Nasir’s recent statements is that he was part of the APC from 2013 and one of its architects,” he said. “He cannot now absolve himself. We suffered under his administration in Zaria.”
Baba-Ahmed also revisited the December 2015 Zaria incident involving members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) and the Nigerian Army, describing it as a “carefully orchestrated operation” designed to divert attention from the escalating insecurity in the North-East.
“They knew exactly when the military convoy would pass through where the Shi’ites were holding,” he alleged. “About 800 people were killed in what was a carefully planned attack.”
He maintained that his abducted nephew, now released, could testify publicly to support his claims.
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