The announcement of Nigeria’s former vice president, Atiku Abubakar’s return to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after many years of sojourn in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has been received by Nigerians with mixed feelings. While some are happy, others just mock him for what they called his “political flirtation.”
Atiku had Sunday, December 3 announced on Facebook Live that following consultations he had with party leaders and stakeholders from across the country, he has returned to PDP.
On November 24, he dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and did not announce his new political fortress until Sunday.
In a reaction to the development, Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party National Caretaker Committee, described the return of Abubakar as “welcome development”, saying his return would add value to the process of rebuilding the party for greater heights.
In a statement issued in Abuja Sunday to NAN, Adeleye noted, “We are indeed glad that he has realised the unbridled lies and deceit of his former party, the All Progressive Congress (APC).
“The PDP remains his home; a house he was part of building and which he helped to nurture. We believe his return will add value to the process of rebuilding our party to greater heights.
According to him, “This is another milestone recorded by the current leadership of our party in its quest to reconcile, rebuild and restructure the PDP ahead of the 2019 general elections and beyond.
“We will continue to remain transparent and dedicated to the service of this party,” the statement said.
The party, therefore, called on all its members still in the APC or other parties as well as others frustrated in the party to return
But in a counter reaction, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress, APC, said it would solve its problems without the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
Abdullahi said, “What reason did he give for leaving the PDP in the first place? Have they (PDP) addressed their problems?
“If yes, so, they did it without him. If he has found PDP attractive now because they have solved their problems, it means we will also solve our problems without him; then he can come back to our party.”
APC said “Atiku’s assertions about happenings within the APC would have carried more weight if he was still a member. I believe that if the former vice-president had spoken out when he was in the party, perhaps, we would have made progress in that respect.
“To now begin to speak after he has left the party shows that there are some things that he should have done that he didn’t do.”
Reacting to Atiku’s claim that he would defeat Buhari in the 2019 election, the party’s mouthpiece added, “I believe that the reasons Nigerians voted for President Buhari in 2015 are still pertinent.”
He stated, “They voted President Buhari because they needed a leader who has integrity, strong on corruption and capable of defeating Boko Haram. If he stands for election in 2019, we believe Nigerians would still vote for him.”
Speaking in an interview with The Sun, Dr. Paul Unongo, Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) confirmed that the North would not support Abubakar Atiku, describing him as being desperate to be a president.
Unongo queried: “What has Atiku got to offer Nigeria? Atiku would be in one party for two hours and he would abandon it and join another one for three hours and when he does not get what he wants, he jumps into another party. And now he is like saying Atiku must be president. There is no single person in Nigeria that must be president. I think money tries to make some people mad; they think they can buy anything they want and everybody.
“The North has no problem whatsoever and it is not only the North that elected President Buhari in the last presidential election. Buhari got average of the votes in virtually all parts of the country. Remember that Buhari contested for the primaries with Atiku and he beat him in that election thoroughly. Atiku did not even come second. Kwankwaso, the former governor of Kano State got more votes than him. People who are thinking that Atiku can do something when he joins the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are making a mistake. Nigeria has passed that way and left it behind for a long time ago. We are not impressed by Atiku who jumps from one party to the other and say oh! I have a lot of money and I must be president. Nigerians are not going to put such people in power.
“We love Buhari, a man of integrity and principle; you can predict him and when he says a thing, you can be sure that what he is saying is true. Buhari would win Atiku any day, anywhere and anytime.
“If the PDP likes, let them field Atiku. If he contests with Buhari, he would win Atiku by 9 o’clock in the morning. Buhari is a tested, trusted and principled leader. We are not for sale and the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not for sale. The presidency is not for the highest bidder.
“We in the North have no problem on who to choose between Buhari and Atiku. We are not divided. I used to say to everybody in Nigeria that we in the North are more radical than the South. We can accommodate both Buhari and Atiku but the North is mature politically and they know where to go and we are going to go where we should go. But we are not going to vote to bring the PDP back to power.
However, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, Leader of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum has faulted comments by chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, over the purported endorsement of President Buhari for 2019 presidency.
Yerima maintained that the presidency remains in the northern region till 2023 and it is up to it to present one of its own to fill the slot and dismissed statement credited to Unongo, suggesting that the northern region had endorsed President Buhari as sole candidate for the 2019 presidency.
The leader of the (AYCF), in a statement sent to NAIJ.com on Sunday said Unongo was speaking for himself as usual and neither for the Northern Elders Forum, nor for the whole north. He said Unongo lacks the requisite authority to speak for the north on any matter as his antecedents are full of inconsistency and lack decorum.
“It is quite unthinkable that a person with such little grasp of diplomacy should think himself as a worthy successor to the respectable chairmanship of the NEF vacated by the late Danmasanin Kano. “We all know that Danmasani was the convener of the NEF and a noble leader that never steered the group in the path of partisanship. “The leadership of the NEF in the time of the Danmasani has never been so biased and considered every northerner as its own and treated them equally,” Shettima stated.
The AYCF leader, however, maintained that the presidency remains in the northern region till 2023 and it is up to it to present one of its own to fill the slot adding, “Unongo therefore must have said the things he said out of turn.”
But, Ben Murray-Bruce, a PDP senator representing Bayelsa central, already believes that Atiku will be Nigeria’s next leader come 2019. However, some people mocked Atiku, noting that his actions were nothing new to Nigeria’s political terrain.
Reacting to Atiku’s claim that he would defeat Buhari at the polls, Lauretta Onochie, Personal Assistant to President Buhari on Social Media, says former president Atiku is living in an illusion to believe that he would defeat President Buhari in the 2019 election.
Atiku had told Dele Momodu in a recent interview that he would defeat Presieent Buhari in the 2019 election if he is given the PDP presidential ticket.
Onochie, in an interview with Channels TV, dismissed, “Atiku may have had that weight some years ago, but over the years he’s been losing that weight and at the moment, I can tell you the even in his local government area in his native Adamawa, he can’t win any election. So where is the weight? I think Alhaji Abubakar Atiku has lost touch with reality; I think he needs to check again. President Buhari is not competing with him at the moment. What he’s trying to do is to put President Buhari out of the good work he’s doing and to come to wallow in the mud with him. And President Buhari is very busy trying to repair the damage that PDP did for 16 years to this nation, he is busy with the job of governance and trying to ease the pains that Nigerians have been going through over the past 16 to 17 years.
On whether Atiku’s exit from the APC has any effect on Buhari, she said: “The president is not perturbed at all; he is not moved in any way. Alhaji Atiku is known to hobnob from one party to the other when he cannot have the control of the party. When he resigned from the PDP some years ago, he gave the same reasons he gave so many years ago and that’s what he has given again for leaving the APC.”
It is speculated that Atiku abandoned APC to PDP to fulfill his presidential ambition. While there, he could not actualise his ambition owing to President Buhari’s statement to go back to Aso Rock in 2019. Before his return to the party, some PDP political heavyweights had already indicated their intention to vie for presidency. For example, Sule Lamido, ex-governor of Jigawa State and Ibrahim Shekarau, ex-governor of Kano State had submitted letters of interest at Walata House. Even, Ahmed Makarfi, the national PDP caretaker chairman has also shown interest to contest for presidency.
Atiku ran for the office of governor in the Gongola State (now Adamawa and Taraba States) in 1991, and for the Presidency in 1993, placing third after MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) primaries.
After military interregnum, he joined the Peoples Democratic Movement formed by the late Brigadier-General Shehu Yar’Adua in 1995 which joined forces with four other political associations to form Peoples Democratic Party in 1998.
In 1998, he was elected Governor of Adamawa State. While still Governor-Elect he was selected by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate Olusegun Obasanjo as his running mate. The duo went on to win elections in February 1999, and Abubakar was sworn-in as Nigeria’s second democratically elected vice president on 29 May 1999.
Abubakar’s second term as Vice President was marked by a stormy relationship with President Obasanjo. His bid to succeed Obasanjo did not receive the latter’s support, and it took a judgment of the Supreme Court to allow Abubakar contest after he was initially disqualified by the Independent National Electoral Commission on the grounds that he had been indicted for financial misconduct by an investigating panel set up at Obasanjo’s behest. The Supreme Court ordered the electoral commission to restore Abubakar’s name onto the presidential ballot. Abubakar ran on the platform of the Action Congress, having quit the PDP on account of his issues with President Obasanjo. Atiku lost the election, placing third after Umaru Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). In 2014, he defected to All Progressives Party (APC) and returned to PDP on December 3.
His second coming to PDP is heralded by many. His political associates reason that if PDP allow him to fly the party’s flag he would be a thorn in the flesh of President Buhari in the forthcoming 2019 presidential election.
