RismadarVoice Reporters
October 1, 2026
National Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has described the party’s presidential candidate, Donald Duke, as better than other candidates in the 2027 presidential race.
Baba-Ahmed asserted in an interview on Wednesday while discussing the PRP’s preparations for the election and its involvement in efforts to build a broader opposition coalition.
“Candidate for candidate, we think we have the best. We’re very fortunate to have him. So, candidate for candidate, Donald Duke is better than all the candidates out there,” Baba-Ahmed said.
He, however, acknowledged that having what the party considers a strong candidate would not, on its own, guarantee electoral victory.
According to him, that reality is one of the reasons the PRP is participating in efforts to build a coalition involving other political parties.
Baba-Ahmed said the party was not seeking to make Duke’s emergence as the coalition’s presidential candidate a precondition for participating in the alliance.
“We don’t want to prejudge or preempt anything by saying, ‘Because he’s the best, he has to be the candidate,’” he said.
He explained that the PRP instead wanted to work with political parties that shared similar principles and could reach agreements through consensus and constitutional processes.
The PRP chairman described the 2027 election as significant to Nigeria’s future, arguing that the country needed substantial progress in the years ahead.
“Nigeria must, in the next four years, make a difference in the manner in which this country either develops or moves away from its fault lines, or just simply sinks into that. It really is that important,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed also maintained that the PRP had complied with relevant legal requirements surrounding Duke’s nomination as its presidential candidate.
His comments came a day after the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed a suit challenging Duke’s emergence as the PRP presidential candidate.
Justice Mohammed Umar held that the suit filed by PRP presidential aspirant Yakubu Kingsley was statute-barred because it was instituted outside the constitutionally prescribed period for pre-election matters.
The court also considered the substantive claims and held that the plaintiff failed to establish his case.
Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, emerged as the PRP’s presidential candidate following the party’s primary held in May 2026.
Baba-Ahmed said the PRP would continue participating in coalition discussions as opposition parties intensify consultations ahead of the 2027 general election.
