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By Ekene Arinze
I do not want to say that Datti Ahmed is pained that he wasn’t chosen as Peter Obi’s Vice Presidential candidate for the second time, but coming on national television to say that he agreed to become Obi’s Vice out of sympathy in 2023 was not only careless but completely unbridled.

Datti Ahmed has achieved so much in life, no doubt. He has made a name for himself. At least, if not for anything, for building Baze University, a school that has helped many members of the rich and political class obtain degrees they may not have ordinarily secured from public universities with stricter academic standards.

Even in the political world, Datti has managed to become a Senator in 2011, although he did not complete his full term because his victory was overturned by the National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal after it was established that the election was rigged in his favour.

But saying that you agreed to become Obi’s Vice out of sympathy after three people had rejected him is where the story becomes really interesting. To interpret that statement further would simply mean that you did Obi a favour, and that position completely ridicules the facts before us.

Maybe no one has reminded Datti that the only reason Obi did not win the 2023 election in the North, was because he chose a man who did not possess enough electoral currency to secure victory in the North when it mattered the most.

Let us restrict ourselves to the facts from Datti’s own state in the North.

What was Obi’s performance there despite having Datti on the ticket?

The last time I checked, Atiku won the state with 554,360 votes, while Obi managed only 294,494 votes, finishing a distant third.

What about Datti’s Local Government Area, Zaria?

Did he deliver it for Obi?

The answer is no.

Atiku still dominated the Local Government with 62,260 votes, while Obi came a distant fourth with only 3,634 votes.

Now let us move even closer to home.

What happened in Datti’s own polling unit, Polling Unit 021, Tudun Wada Ward?

This was supposed to be the micro level of politics, the very place where Datti Baba-Ahmed cast his vote. It was expected to be the easiest place for him to demonstrate political influence.

Yet, the PDP still claimed victory with 102 votes, while Obi came a distant third with just 54 votes.

Ordinarily, one would expect Datti to win his polling unit comfortably. After all, this is the level of politics where a politician should practically know people by their names, households, and family histories. Yet, even there, victory proved elusive.

So if I may ask, between Datti and Obi, who actually chose the other out of sympathy?

The last time I checked, Datti was already a member of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and the party already had a presidential candidate in Donald Duke.

Would it not have been better for him to market Donald Duke and possibly position himself as his running mate instead of behaving like an estranged lover who has refused to move on long after the relationship has ended?

Politics is a game of numbers, influence, and electoral value. Therefore, before anyone claims to have accepted a position out of sympathy, the figures and political realities must first support such a claim.

I am Ekene Aninze Esq.