In a moment of striking candour, the National Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Professor Tukur Mohammed-Baba, has said what many Nigerians have only whispered: electing Muhammadu Buhari as president in 2015 was a national blunder.
Appearing on Arise Television’s Morning Show, the professor pulled no punches. With the kind of bluntness rarely heard from Northern elders, he declared that Nigerians were taken in by Buhari’s almost messianic appeal — only to be left with disappointment and disillusionment.
“It was a monumental mistake. We were deceived by his cult-like followership. But in the end, what did we get? Disappointment,” he said with a sigh that carried the weight of a nation’s regret.
Mohammed-Baba didn’t stop there. He said hopes had briefly been revived when Bola Tinubu took office in 2023 — a chance, he believed, to undo the damage of the Buhari years. But those hopes, too, are fading.
“Many Nigerians thought Tinubu would correct the errors of the past. Sadly, that has not happened. People are suffering. And that’s why we’re now seeing a new coalition taking shape — one led by the ADC,” he explained.
The new coalition, he suggested, may be more than just another political gathering. It is, in his view, a reflection of growing frustration with a system that keeps failing its people.
Pressed on whether his words represented the position of the influential ACF, Mohammed-Baba was quick to set the record straight.
“I’m speaking for myself — not for the ACF. I’m a public analyst and these are my views,” he clarified, though his role in the forum lends his words significant weight.
On the issue of zoning — a persistent feature in Nigeria’s electoral landscape — the professor dismissed it as a tired solution to a deeper problem.
“Zoning has never given us the leadership we need. We should stop deceiving ourselves. Let the best candidate emerge, no matter where they come from,” he said with conviction.
His comments have already sparked fierce debate online, with some praising his honesty and others questioning his timing. But one thing is clear: the old certainties in Nigerian politics are being shaken — and voices like Mohammed-Baba’s are leading the tremors.