The Marabout Trap: Inside Datti Baba-Ahmed’s Political Delusion -By Mahmud Muhammad

One would expect Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed to still be resting and reflecting. He should be in a sober retreat, learning the brutal lessons of the 2023 presidential election. There, Nigerians overwhelmingly rejected the Labour Party’s cocktail of noise without structure, arrogance without numbers, and social media buzz without ballot reality.

Instead, the former Labour Party vice-presidential candidate has suddenly developed what many political watchers now rightly describe as mouth diarrhea. He has become loquacious in defeat, dangerous in frustration, and incoherent in analysis. His latest outburst is not just irresponsible, it is shameful, ridiculous and utterly preposterous.

In an interview with broadcaster Seun Okinbaloye on the Mic On Podcast, Datti Baba-Ahmed took it upon himself to tell Nigerians why the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Kashim Shettima, GCON, does not wear what he called “the Asiwaju Tinubu Cap.”

Datti Baba-Ahmed, unable to comprehend branding, loyalty and political symbolism, has decided to mystify it. This is the new low that Datti has taken our politics to. From policy to cap, from governance to marabout, from real issues to spiritual gossip.

This allegation by Datti Ahmed is not just preposterous, it is ridiculous and shameful, coming from a politician who is yet to recover from the defeat of the 2023 presidential election. If not, how can it be imagined that a man who wanted to be Vice President would make this kind of dreaming statement? It makes no sense whatsoever.

Nigerians should cross-check facts carefully, as Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed has lately exhibited incoherence and signs of political psychological distortion. Since 2023, his public utterances have become increasingly erratic. From launching ferocious attacks on Peter Obi—his own former presidential candidate, who is now touted as the new flag bearer of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC)—Baba-Ahmed has become one of the latest examples of oral diarrhea and personality abnormalities in Nigerian politics.

He attacks the party that gave him a platform, he bites the hand of the candidate he stood beside, and he violently lashes out at everyone except himself. Now, his latest, desperate assault targets the respected Vice President of Nigeria, Senator Shettima—a man of unassailable dignity, intellect, and proven loyalty. This is no longer mere political disagreement; it is a clear sign that his unhinged political madness has officially reached a fever pitch.

Datti Baba-Ahmed is desperately lowering the bar of Nigerian political discourse, and it needs to stop. Politics, at its core, is a noble pursuit. It is a battle of superior ideas, rigorous organization, and strategic vision focused entirely on public service. To reduce this vital national contest to the level of marabout gossip, superstitious cap-watching, and babalawo analysis is a disservice to the electorate. Nigeria deserves a debate centered on substance, not sorcery.

In politics, precision beats passion. If you engineer your strategy correctly, victory in a Nigerian election is not just possible—it is inevitable. President Tinubu’s political ascendancy offers the definitive masterclass. His formula has never been a mystery: it is a calculated, people-centered blueprint. While others chased fleeting trends, President Tinubu spent three decades building bridges across Nigeria’s deepest fault lines—ethnic, religious, and regional.

He engineered a formidable political machine fueled not by a wave of angry tweets, but by generational sacrifice, strategic investments in human capital, and radical tolerance.He didn’t rely on digital outrage; he relied on structure, fierce loyalty, and the economic transformation of Lagos as his undeniable proof of concept. In the arena of power, structural depth will always outlast online noise. That is why Nigerians voted for him. That is why he won.

The failed and deranged politician, Datti Baba-Ahmed, is attempting to divert attention from the momentum of the Tinubu/Shettima magic wand by focusing on laughable and mundane matters.

While the Tinubu administration is breaking a 20-year jinx on the Cabotage fund, while the Copyright Commission is seizing N7 million worth of pirated books to protect intellectual property, while reforms are taking root, Datti wants the nation to debate whether a Vice President’s cap was forbidden by a marabout. Of course, reasonable Nigerians should disregard never-do-well political scavengers like him.

Let’s dismantle this marabout nonsense once and for all. Vice President Shettima is a proud Kanuri, a devout Muslim, and a highly educated former university lecturer and banker. This is a man who served as a state Commissioner, steered Borno State as Governor through the absolute peak of the Boko Haram insurgency, and served with distinction in the Senate. He is not a political lightweight easily swayed by shadows.

His loyalty to President Tinubu is not a performative act for the cameras—it is organic. It is deeply rooted in a shared ideology of progressive politics. Senator Shettima has stood by his boss through thick and thin, defending this administration both at home and on the global stage with fierce intelligence, hard data, and undeniable eloquence. To reduce this sophisticated political alliance to superstitious gossip isn’t just inaccurate; it’s completely out of touch with reality.

The Vice President does not need a cap to prove his loyalty. Those who understand power know that loyalty is proven in the council, not in the wardrobe. To suggest that his mode of dressing is dictated by an Islamic marabout is not just childish; it is a deliberate attempt to inject religious suspicion into the Presidency. It is a calculated attempt to say to Tinubu’s supporters: ‘Look, your Vice President has a spiritual agenda against you.’ It is divisive, it is mischievous, and it must be called out.

What is even more insulting is that Datti, who claims to be educated and worldly, would publicly disrespect Islamic clerics by using the word ‘marabout’ in such a derogatory, fetishized manner. He is dragging respected religious guides into his petty political gossip.

The truth is simple: Datti Baba-Ahmed is yet to come to terms with the fact that the 2023 elections are over. The Labour Party lost, he lost, and he is not the Vice President. Kashim Shettima is, and no amount of podcast interviews will change that reality.

Nigeria deserves a constructive opposition. We need leaders who can keep the government on its toes with alternative figures on fuel subsidy removal, alternative food security policies, and concrete security ideas. Nigeria does not need an opposition that sits in a studio manufacturing conspiracy theories about caps.

The Tinubu/Shettima ticket was a winning combination precisely because it united experience, competence, and loyalty. That combination continues to work. The administration is focused, the President trusts his Vice President, and the Vice President respects and honours his President. No lies, no gossip, and no delusional interviews can break that bond.

This inglorious vituperation demands total condemnation from every well-meaning Nigerian. Datti Baba-Ahmed must be told that enough is enough. It is time for him to practice humility, seek help, and stop holding this country back. History will completely forget his marabout tales. Instead, it will brand him as the man who trivialized politics simply because he lost an election

Muhammad, a presidential aide and public analyst and a Ph.D candidate, writes from Abuja.