The national chairman of the People’s Redemption Party, (PRP), Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has described the party’s presidential candidate, Donald Duke, as better than all other contenders, while acknowledging that candidate quality alone would not guarantee victory in the 2027 presidential election.
Baba-Ahmed said this in an interview with Arise News on Wednesday.
“Candidate for candidate, we think we have the best. We’re very fortunate to have him So, candidate for candidate, Donald Duke is better than all the candidates out there.
“However, we’re realistic enough to know that just the quality of your candidate doesn’t just win the election, which is the reason why the PRP is in the frontline, right at the heart of this coalition building.”
He said the PRP was therefore focused on building a broad coalition of parties, stressing that the process should prioritise consensus, constitutionalism and the formation of a government capable of delivering meaningful change.
“We don’t want to prejudge or preempt anything by saying, ‘Because he’s the best, he has to be the candidate,’ by whatever means you come to do that. We want to build a coalition of parties that think the way we do.
“Nigeria must, in the next four years, make a difference in the manner in which this country either develops or moves away from its fault lines, or just simply sinks into that. It really is that important.”
Speaking on the Supreme Court’s restoration of provisions of the Electoral Act relating to membership registers and candidate nominations, Baba-Ahmed said the ruling did not create any issue for the PRP, noting that the party had complied with the relevant timelines and requirements.
“In our case, we are fine. In fact, I suspect that in most cases, parties did comply with the timelines that this particular judgment of the Supreme Court refers to. It said you had to have compiled a register in a particular format, and all candidates that you would forward for elections—aspirants—must be on that register. It was such a scare within such a short time. But I think 90% of the parties—maybe more than 95%—complied. It’s not an issue for us.”
Baba-Ahmed said the party was pleased with the Federal High Court’s dismissal of the suit challenging Duke’s candidacy, describing the ruling as comprehensive and expressing confidence that it had brought the legal challenge to an end.
“We certainly have reasons to believe so, given the manner in which the case was so thoroughly thrown out by the judge. If I were advising Mr. Kingsley, I’d say don’t bother appealing. It was complete, it was comprehensive, and it was profound. We’d like to believe that this is the end of the legal challenge.”
Reaffirming the party’s compliance with the law, the national chairman said the PRP had been meticulous in ensuring Duke’s candidacy met all legal requirements, adding that the candidate was duly registered within the required timeframe and in the prescribed format.
“It was too important not to comply with the law. You couldn’t just simply pluck a candidate for presidency from outside that register. You couldn’t conceivably do that. He was registered within the timeframe, in the format that was required, and INEC had him all this time. We are fine with that. We knew that couldn’t provide a basis for challenging his candidacy.
“As it turns out, the Duke challenge is just about the only issue that went to court. We were meticulous in making sure that we left ourselves protected. We crossed all the T’s and dotted the I’s,” he said.
On what the PRP can deliver to change Nigeria, Baba-Ahmed said the party would pursue a fundamentally different approach to leadership, centred on integrity, national unity, dignity and restoring young Nigerians’ confidence in the country’s future.
“A leadership that thinks. A leadership that has integrity. A leadership that believes it must pull this country in the opposite direction. A leadership that young people can look up to. A leadership that will restore some dignity to Nigeria, and a leadership that will reunite the country.
“250 million people, the biggest country in Africa, floundering. We have no business being where we are. We believe it can be done, and we believe that we have the wherewithal to do that—not just by the PRP, but there are Nigerians out there who want to come in and help. That’s what we will do.”
Favour Odima
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