The recent comments by Datti Baba-Ahmed against the emerging Obi–Kwankwaso (“OK”) political arrangement betray a familiar misunderstanding of what wins elections in Nigeria. Datti Baba-Ahmed should show his Polling unit results as Vice Presidential candidate in 2023. Kwankwaso remains a huge force in the new Nigeria project and his sacrifices at this stage deserves commendation. Datti has no moral justification to criticize Peter Obi choice of Vice Presidential candidate. Criticizing OK ticket shows that Datti isn’t ok and that’s why he failed to make add value in the north during 2023 elections.
While debate within political circles is legitimate, it becomes less convincing when it shifts from strategy to personal critique of coalition efforts that are clearly aimed at electoral consolidation. The truth, which many political actors often avoid stating plainly, is simple: Nigerian elections are not won by declarations of intent, media presence, or ideological purity tests. They are won through structure, coordination, and disciplined execution at the polling unit level.
The political reality confronting the opposition today demands sobriety, not sentiment. The alliance being discussed between Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is not a ceremonial arrangement. It is a strategic response to the fragmented nature of opposition politics and the urgent need to consolidate voter strength across geopolitical divides.
It is therefore ironic that criticism is being directed at a process attempting to build breadth, when the opposition’s historic weakness has been its inability to translate popularity into coordinated electoral machinery.
For clarity, no political actor—no matter how visible on national platforms—can substitute grassroots organisation. Elections are not won on television interviews, press conferences, or social media engagement. They are decided in wards and polling units where votes are cast, counted, and defended.
If anything, the current debate should shift away from questioning the legitimacy of coalition-building efforts and toward strengthening them. The opposition does not suffer from a lack of voices; it suffers from a lack of unified structure. And that is the gap the OK arrangement seeks to address.
Due Process therefore holds a simple position: political critique must be matched with political alternatives. It is not enough to question strategy without presenting a superior one capable of delivering electoral victory.
At this stage in Nigeria’s political evolution, the burden is not on coalition builders to justify unity—it is on critics to demonstrate that fragmentation produces better outcomes. Until then, the polling unit remains the only courtroom that matters in electoral politics.
