Former political adviser to President Bola Tinubu, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has dismissed the claim that northern politicians are behind the coalition alliance aimed at unseating the current administration.

Naijaonpoint reports that the sentiment that northern politicians are fond of forming alliances against a southerner in power stems from the political coalition that gave birth to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013.

The coalition defeated the Goodluck Jonathan-led government in the 2015 presidential election, leading to the emergence of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

However, Baba-Ahmed, who recently resigned from his appointment as Tinubu’s adviser, in an interview on Arise Television on Monday, dismissed the narrative that northern political leaders always gang up to create coalitions each time a southerner is in power.

According to him, the political coalition spearheaded by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, is not a northerner’s affair, stressing that many southern prominent politicians are also involved.

Recalling how the coalition that defeated Jonathan’s government was formed, Baba-Ahmed said President Tinubu, a southerner, was instrumental in its formation.

He said, “There are southerners involved in this talk about coalitions, too. You know Governor Amaechi is there, the former governor of Osun State (Rauf Aregbesola) is there. There are a lot of people from the southern part of the country.

“They love the south too, they don’t want to be second to the north. They are there. It’s not every time that when a Southerner is there, there have always been talks about coalitions.

“We formed a coalition in 2011/2012 with a southerner. His name is President Tinubu now. He gave us his bit of the of Nigeria, and we formed a coalition between the AD and the CPC, and we created the APC. It’s not a new thing. There have always been coalitions always.”