- IPOB cautions Kwankwaso, says ex-gov not its member
Barring a change, Labour Party (LP) is to name prominent economist, intellectual and philanthropist, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, as its vice presidential candidate to run with ex-Governor in the 2023 general elections. Baba-Ahmed from Kano is a 46-year-old academic, businessman and politician.
He was a member of the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007, and was elected Senator for Kaduna North, in April 2011 on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) . He had a remarkable record of sponsoring important legislation in a very short time. Baba-Ahmed has four degrees: BSc and MSc in Economics from University of Maiduguri, an MBA from University of Wales, Cardiff and in 2006, earned the Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Westminster.
After his youth service at University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Ogun State, he worked as Projects Coordinator, Baze Research and Data Services Ltd and as Officer II in the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, Lagos. He worked at First Bank of Nigeria Plc from July 1997 to Dec 1998 and then came back to become the Managing Director of Baze Research and Data Services Ltd, July 1999 – January 2003, before venturing into politics.
In 2011, Sen. Baba-Ahmed established Baze University. It is an independent university in Abuja. Using his studies abroad as benchmark, he noted that the Nigerian educational system was “appalling.” This inspired the birth of Baze University, “to contribute towards fixing the system in order for Nigeria to realize its potentials and address various challenges.”
He is an accomplished philanthropist. Among many of his corporate social responsibility projects, he built and donated two junior secondary schools with total capacity of 4,000 pupils. In 2015, Alhaji BabaAhmed was appointed as Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Hope Alive Foundation.
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It campaigns for economic survival of corps members who suffered permanent disability during service. Dr. Baba-Ahmed is currently the Pro-Chancellor of Baze University; Managing Director, Baze Research & Data Service Ltd; and Chairman, Baze Construction Ltd.
His companies employ over 1000 people including expatriates, and highly skilled professional Nigerians from the Diaspora. Meanwhile, proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), on Tuesday, cautioned New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Presidential Candidate Kwankwaso against linking its struggle with Obi. IPOB said Obi is not one of its members and has never supported the agitation for Self-determination. Emma Powerful, the spokesman of IPOB, said the group is not interested in the process of Nigerian elections.
A statement by him reads: “The global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), under the command and leadership of our great leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to advise the former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwoso not to involve IPOB in the selection process they call an election in Nigeria.
“The Nigerian politicians generally and Kwankwaso, in particular, should desist from linking IPOB with Peter Obi’s political ambition and campaign. Peter Obi is not an IPOB member, and never supported our agitation for freedom at any time because he pursues a totally different goal from that of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
We have no interest in the Nigerian morally decadent and fantastically corrupt political system and landscape. “If Kwankwaso is threatened by the Labour Party & Peter Obi’s teeming support by the creative and talented but downtrodden, neglected, deceived, deprived, killed (Endsars) Nigerian youths from even the North which your generation does not have any good intentions for, then he should go forward and settle his differences and stop linking IPOB to their problem.
“IPOB is not interested in the worthless politics you play in Nigeria, we don’t regard such daylight robbery, fraud, manipulation and selection as election. Maybe there is something Kwankwaso is not telling the world. “Instead of saying the truth that because he is Fulani with the (born to rule mentality), he cannot play second fiddle to a Southern Christian presidential candidate, he has the temerity to associate our hallowed liberation movement with the shameless murky waters of the Zoo politics.
“There are no middle ways for us as a people as far as our liberty and freedom is concerned. There is, therefore, nothing anybody can do to change our resolve towards our stated goal, which is the restoration of Biafra. IPOB does not know who Peter Obi is going by our biodata bank. “ Our demand is our inalienable rights to self determination and this we seek through a universally recognised and accepted political process called *REFERENDUM* as stipulated by the United Nations Charter.
“IPOB wish to use this medium and opportunity to warn every politician in Nigeria to desist from linking IPOB with their politics and selection process because we are not politicians and have no common interest. We are freedom fighters.”
