A top Northern politician has resigned from President Tinubu government.
Newsone Nigeria reports that Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), has resigned as the political adviser to President Bola Tinubu.
A report monitored on Daily Trust quoted sources in the presidency as confirming on Thursday that Hakeem Baba-Ahmed tendered his resignation about two weeks ago.
According to the report, Baba-Ahmed did not provide details of the reasons for his decision; he only stated that it was on personal grounds.
It was unclear whether the presidency had accepted his resignation.
Newsone recalls that Baba-Ahmed, a brother to Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed of the Labour Party, was appointed Special Adviser on Political Matters in the Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima in September 2023.
Baba-Ahmed’s role in the presidency attracted criticism at certain points, including from the current Minister of State for Defence, Bello Mohammed Matawalle.
The Minister of State for Defence had appeared to have aimed at Baba-Ahmed when he said northern appointees must not remain silent in the face of intimidation or misrepresentation of the Tinubu administration.
Matawalle’s comments came after Baba-Ahmed criticised Matawalle’s dismissal of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) as a “political paperweight”.
The minister’s position was in reaction to the group’s statement that the North made a mistake voting for Tinubu in 2023.
