Daily Trust reliably learnt that Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s political adviser, has resigned.
Impeccable sources in the presidency confirmed yesterday that the former spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) tendered his resignation about two weeks ago.
The sources said Dr. Baba-Ahmed did not provide details of the reasons for his decision, only stating that it was on personal grounds. However, as of the time of filing this report, it was unclear whether the presidency had accepted his resignation.
Baba-Ahmed was appointed Special Adviser on Political Matters in the Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima in September 2023.
Over the past 17 months, he has represented the presidency at several public forums, including a recent national conference themed “Strengthening Nigeria’s Democracy: Pathway to Good Governance and Political Integrity,” which was held from 28 to 29 January 2025 in Abuja.
Dr. Baba-Ahmed’s role in the presidency drew criticism at certain points. A notable criticism came from the current Minister of State for Defence, Bello Mohammed Matawalle.
In April 2024, Matawalle appeared to have taken aim at Dr. Baba-Ahmed, when he said northern appointees must not remain silent in the face of intimidation or misrepresentation of the Tinubu administration.
His remarks came after Baba-Ahmed criticised Matawalle’s dismissal of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) as a “political paperweight”. That position by the minister was in reaction to the group’s statement that the North had made a mistake voting for Tinubu in 2023.
Baba-Ahmed had argued that the Tinubu administration would have been better served if Matawalle had highlighted his own achievements as a minister—along with those of other northern appointees—rather than attacking the NEF.
“Scathing criticism of NEF by the junior minister of defence, Matawalle, is ill-advised. He could have done a better job for this administration if he identified contributions of especially northern ministers and other appointees like me to improving security and reducing poverty in the North,” Baba-Ahmed wrote.
Matawalle fired back, insisting that government appointees had a duty to defend and promote the administration they served. “Dr Baba-Ahmed’s relationship and affinity with the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) is well known,” Matawalle said, adding that: “As an appointee of this administration, it is his responsibility to work for its success, protect and defend the government against unjust and vicious attacks from those who hide under ethnic and other primordial interests to heat up the polity for myopic reasons”.
