Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former Special Adviser on Political Matters in the Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima, has said that Nigeria’s economy is performing worse under President Bola Tinubu than it did under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Baba-Ahmed made the remarks during an interview on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme aired on Friday.

He discussed the content of his recent open letter to President Tinubu, in which he advised the president against seeking re-election in 2027. He also gave insight into his resignation after 17 months in office and addressed ongoing political defections.

Baba-Ahmed pointed to Tinubu’s major economic decisions—most notably the removal of the petrol subsidy and the floating of the naira—as key factors behind the rising inflation.

When Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, inflation stood at 22.41%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). By November 2024, it had risen to 34.6%.

“It is worse than Buhari left it,” Baba-Ahmed said, assessing the state of the economy. He expressed scepticism over government data suggesting improvement.

“This is the thing with the statistics that the administration keeps reeling out. And you really wonder where they get the statistics from. You go to villages, go to Kastina, go to Zamfara, go to Niger State, go to Plateau, go to Benue… More blood is shed now than it was maybe two years ago. And yet you see this kind of statistics that say there are fewer killings, there is less violence.”

He questioned whether the president is fully informed about conditions in the country. “Do our leaders actually know how our people live? Who is telling them all this? How do these statistics get acquired?”

Baba-Ahmed recalled that he had once seen promise in Tinubu’s leadership, particularly based on his political history in Lagos.

“I saw a president who was stubborn, almost visionary… He ran Lagos for eight years. Whether he ran it well or not, I do not know. But he ran Lagos well… I saw him as a calculating politician,” he said, noting Tinubu’s past alliances with Atiku Abubakar and Nuhu Ribadu, and his role in helping Muhammadu Buhari become president.

According to Baba-Ahmed, Tinubu’s contribution to Buhari’s victory in 2015 was a “deciding factor.” However, he added, “I do not know what has happened since 2015, but I do not see the fire. I do not see that calculation.”

Reflecting on his own role in the Tinubu administration, he said he was appointed by the president following the facilitation of Vice President Shettima, but was dissatisfied with his role.

“No, I did not do any job. I was supposed to be an adviser on political matters to the president, in the office of the vice president,” he said, adding that he never met the other political adviser, nor the president himself.

“I spent a year and six months there,” he noted, before resigning. “I suspect if I met the president… I might say things to him that he might not be very happy about. Because if I did, I would have told him exactly what I said in that open letter: ‘Mr. President, please do not run again.”

Baba-Ahmed said his decision to work for the administration stemmed from a sense of duty. “Working for a government, especially Tinubu’s government that had inherited a really messed up country from Buhari, was the most patriotic thing anybody could do.”

He explained that he had once supported Buhari, including serving as a state party chairman for four years. However, he became a critic after losing confidence in Buhari’s leadership.

“We could see that he was just interested in becoming president, and he was not interested in governing… and we started criticising him.”

On why he has advised Tinubu not to contest in 2027, Baba-Ahmed said, “I think that first he has become a president, so that’s settled… Spend the next two years fixing Nigeria, fix the economy as much as possible, fix insecurity.”

He argued for a generational shift in leadership: “Find someone… younger, more energetic, healthier, more focused, more committed to the future of this country… There are a lot of educated, very athletic Nigerians who desperately want to be part of the future of this country. Trust them with power.”

While acknowledging Tinubu’s right to lead, Baba-Ahmed said he has not seen signs that the president’s first two years have prepared him for another term.

“He does not need to be president to actually do something good for this country.”

He added that the region or ethnicity of the next president is not important. “Let him come from anywhere… Anybody who is talking to you about North and South doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”

On whether he would return to support Tinubu’s re-election, Baba-Ahmed was firm: “No, I won’t go back. I can’t. Come on. Not for anything.”

He said he wants to avoid being like politicians who shift allegiances frequently. “I want to be better than those guys.”

Asked if he regretted supporting Buhari in 2015, he replied, “Absolutely… We did not support Buhari because he was a Northerner. We supported Buhari because he was a better option than Jonathan in 2015… We thought he was tough on corruption… We supported him, and it could have been anybody.”

Reflecting on Buhari’s presidency, Baba-Ahmed said, “I have not seen eight years under a leadership that just did not govern, did not care about the priorities… how secure the country was, how the young people needed to find futures.”

While he does not regret accepting a role under Tinubu, he said he left when he realised “there was no space” to effect change. “I did not see that fire, commitment and zeal to fix a country that has been wrecked. Instead, I saw a country getting worse.”

He said Tinubu’s early days in office raised expectations that were not met. “From day one, he pushed the country to the deep end… We keep seeing promises. And the difference between what President Tinubu’s people say the country is, and what the country is today, is miles apart.”

He concluded that levels of insecurity and poverty, particularly in the north, remain “unbelievable.”