Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is not new to switching of political parties but his recent resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is the third time he would be leaving the party and a record fivetime defection in 19 years, stands him out in the back-and-forth movement by Nigerian politicians. FELIX NWANERI reports
It was a move expected as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, last week, announced his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Atiku conveyed his resignation in a letter addressed to the PDP ward chairman of Jada Ward 1, in Jada Local Government Area of Adamawa State. The former vice president (1999- 2007), who was the presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections stated in the letter that his decision was driven by his belief that the PDP had strayed from its founding ideals.
His words: “I am writing to formally resign my membership from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with immediate effect. I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude for the opportunities I have been given by the party. Serving two full terms as vice president of Nigeria and being a presidential candidate twice has been one of the most significant chapters of my life. “As a founding father of this esteemed party, it is indeed heart-breaking for me to make this decision.
However, I find it necessary to part ways due to the current trajectory the party has taken, which I believe diverges from the foundational principles we stood for. It is with a heavy heart that I resign, recognising the irreconcilable differences that have emerged. “I wish the party and its leadership all the best in the future. Thank you once again for the opportunities and support.”
2006: From PDP to AC
The first time Atiku left the PDP through which he became vice president in 1999, was in 2006, when his decision to run for the 2007 presidency pitted him against then President Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo selected Atiku as his running mate in the 1999 presidential election despite the later having earlier won the Adamawa State governorship election but the duo fell out over Obasanjo’s insistence that Atiku would not succeed him after their second term.
This forced the then vice president, who was determined to contest the 2007 presidential election to leave the PDP for the defunct Action Congress (AC), which handed him its presidential ticket. Atiku said of his decision to quit the PDP then: “I had to leave because I was pushed to the limit. A scheme was introduced, by which I and my supporters were removed from the party under the guise of re-registration. Of course, the bigger scheme was to ensure that I did not succeed my boss (Obasanjo).
As a founding father of this esteemed party, it is indeed heart-breaking for me to make this decision. However, I find it necessary to part ways due to the current trajectory the party has taken
“They had me suspended from the party, even beyond the length of time permitted by the PDP constitution. The party rejected and flouted all courts orders in respect of my rights as a party member.” Though he secured AC’s presidential ticket and waded through the power play that almost stopped him from contesting, he came a distant third behind the PDP candidate, Umaru Yar’Adua and General Muhammadu Buhari, who ran on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). He rejected the result and called for its cancellation, describing it as Nigeria’s “worst election ever.”
2009: From AC back to PDP
Two years after the 2007 elections, Atiku returned to the PDP in what many likened to a “dog going back to its vomit,” but he defended his action, saying he was back for real. He said: “For any one still harbouring any doubts about my return to our great party, the PDP, let me assure that I am back for real and in it for the long run.
And to those my supporters in Adamawa and elsewhere yet to make good their return to the PDP, I urge them to come back home and rejoin us in the bid to make good things happen in our dear country.” While his return was initially resisted by his state chapter of the PDP, he was granted a waiver by the party’s national leadership.
The waiver paved the way for him to contest the 2011 presidential primary of the party. Atiku, however, pulled a smart one, when he was picked by the Northern Elders Political Leaders Forum (NPEF) led by a former Minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, as the region’s consensus candidate over former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida; former National Security Adviser (NSA), General Aliyu Gusau and then governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki.
Though he was floored by then Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, who also won the main election, Atiku opted to remain in the PDP after the 2011 elections, apparently to fight “the injustice” in the party from within. His first battle was resistance of an attempt to foist President Jonathan on the party as its sole candidate for the 2015 presidential poll.
His argument was that the PDP has never adopted the right of first refusal in the contest for its presidential tickets since 1999. “My position is that as far as the PDP constitution is concerned, any attempt to change the party’s rule to favour the President as a sole candidate in the event of his willingness to re-contest is unconstitutional,” he then said.
2014: From PDP to APC
While Atiku’s opposition to Jonathan’s sole candidacy initially enjoyed the support of some members of the PDP, the national leadership of the party under Alhaji Bamanga Tukur (national chairman) and Chief Tony Anenih (chairman, Board of Trustees) later had its way. It was against this backdrop that Atiku, alongside some aggrieved governors of the PDP at that time – Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) staged a walk out during the party’s special convention at the Eagle Square, Abuja on August 31, 2013. They later converged at the Yar’Adua Center, also in Abuja, where they recounted the numerous sins of the Tukur-led PDP National Working Committee (NWC) and why he must step aside.
The walk out culminated in the defection of aggrieved governors to the then newly-registered opposition party – All Progressives Congress (APC) on November 26, 2013, while Atiku followed suit on February 2, 2014. He then described the APC as “my last bus stop,” adding: “We now have two formidable political parties and Nigerians have a viable choice.” As expected, the former vice president immediately declared his intention to contest the party’s presidential ticket for the 2015 elections.
While many believed then that Atiku would be the candidate to beat in the APC presidential primary given his financial strength and political structure, he lost the ticket to Buhari, who enjoyed the support of most leaders and governors of the party at that time. Atiku came a distant third with 954 votes, trailing Kwankwaso (974 votes) and Buhari (4,430 votes). He accepted the outcome and pledged to support the party’s choice in the election though some members of the party later accused him of not showing much commitment.
2017: From APC back to PDP
Following Buhari’s victory in 2015 presidential election, the former vice president returned to his business. However, a rumoured ambition sometime in 2017 prompted some political analysts and observers to believe that he has not foreclosed his presidential ambition. Atiku was alleged to have hosted political meetings at Burj Al-Arab, Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates, apparently to revive his political machinery ahead of the 2019 presidential election.
But the former vice president described the rumour as the handiwork of political mischief makers, who were out to draw a wedge between him and President Buhari. Besides denying the 2019 presidential bid, Atiku added that the success of the Buhari administration has been his preoccupation, and that any true APC member should have the same zeal. However, it was not long before the picture became clear that the former vice president will take another shot at the presidency. But there was a hurdle to Atiku’s quest – President Buhari’s second term bid.
This barrier, apparently forced the former vice president to resign from the APC on November 24, 2017. He hinged his decision on APC’s failure to deliver on its promises to Nigerians. Recalling his journey to the APC, Atiku decried that his hope that it would be different from his former party (PDP) was dashed. His words: “On December 19, 2013, I received members of the APC at my house in Abuja. They had come to appeal to me to join their party after my party, the PDP, had become factionalized as a result of the special convention of August 31, 2013.
I don’t think his exit will make any dent on the PDP as a party. The PDP is an institution. We have freedom of entrance and exit. Anyone who holds the PDP down; it is better for such an individual to quit
“The fractionalization of the PDP on August 31, 2013 had left me in a situation where I was, with several other loyal party members, in limbo, not knowing which of the parallel executives of the party was the legitimate leadership. “It was under this cloud that members of the APC made the appeal to me to join their party, with the promise that the injustices and failure to abide by its own constitution, which had dogged the then PDP, would not be replicated in the APC and with the assurance that the vision other founding fathers and I had for the PDP could be actualised through the APC. “It was on the basis of this invitation and the assurances made to me that I, being partyless at that time, due to the fractionalization of my party, accepted on February 2, 2014, the hand of fellowship given to me by the APC.
“On that day, I said ‘it is the struggle for democracy and constitutionalism and service to my country and my people that are driving my choice and my decision’ to accept the invitation to join the APC. I said that because I believed that we had finally seen the beginnings of the rebirth of the new Nigeria of our dreams which would work for all of us, old and young.”
Atiku expressed regret that events of the intervening years showed that like any other human and like many other Nigerians, he was fallible. According to him, while other parties purged themselves of the arbitrariness and unconstitutionality that led to fractionalization, the APC adopted those same practices and even went beyond them to institute a regime of a draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy within the party and the government it produced.
He cited Governor Nasri el-Rufai’s 29- page memo, dated September 22, 2016, titled: “Immediate and medium-term imperatives for President Muhammadu Buhari,” in which he decried the relationship between the then president and some chieftains of the APC, including himself and the likes of the then National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (now president), but noted that nothing was done since that memo was written. He said: “Nothing has been done to reverse the treatment meted out to those of us invited to join the APC on the strength of a promise that has proven to be false. If anything, those behaviours have actually worsened.
“But more importantly, the party we put in place has failed and continues to fail our people, especially our young people. How can we have a federal cabinet without even one single youth. A party that does not take the youth into account is a dying party. The future belongs to young people. “I admit that I and others, who accepted the invitation to join the APC were eager to make positive changes for our country that we fell for a mirage. Can you blame us for wanting to put a speedy end to the sufferings of the masses of our people?
“Be that as it may be, after due consultation with my God, my family, my supporters and the Nigerian people whom I meet in all walks of life, I, Atiku Abubakar, Waziri Adamawa, hereby tender my resignation from the APC, while I take time to ponder my future.” While the former vice president promised then to take time to ponder about his next political move, it was obvious that he would be returning to his former party. As expected, he returned to the PDP on December 3, 2017. He said of his action: “Today, I want to let you know that I am returning home to the PDP as the issues that led me to leave it have now been resolved and it is clear that the APC has let the Nigerian people, and especially our young people down.”
2025: An exit predicted
While Atiku was silent on his next move, following his resignation from the PDP, last week, there is no doubt that he would be moving to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) recently adopted by leaders of the opposition coalition to challenge the ruling APC in the 2027 general election. The former vice president is one of the arrowheads of the coalition, and his move to the ADC, when formalized, would be the fifth time he will switch parties in his bid for Nigeria’s presidency in the current political dispensation – Fourth Republic. Though Atiku has not officially declared for the 2027 presidency, his political associates are convinced that he will contest the election, which perhaps, informed why he started rallying other opposition leaders on the need for a platform beyond the PDP, when it became clear that some elements within the party will frustrate his ambition like they did in the 2023 elections.
Recall that The PDP had what could be described as its worse internal wrangling during the build-up to the 2023 elections. The crisis began with the battle for the structure of the party that saw the removal of the party’s then National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, in October 2021. The belief of those who spearheaded his ouster was that it will bring cohesion to the party ahead of the 2023 elections.
Led by then governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike (now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory), the antiSecondus camp reasoned then that he lacked what it takes to lead the party to victory in the 2023 polls. However, some discerning political minds expressed the view that the bone of contention was control of the party’s structure by some chieftains of the PDP, who had their eyes on the 2023 presidential ticket of the party.
The pro and anti-Secondus camps, however, reached a sort of compromise by bringing forward the national convention that was earlier scheduled for December 2021. But, in a twist, some members of the party approached a High Court in Rivers State, which granted an interim order that restrained Secondus from parading himself as the national chairman of the party.
The party subsequently named Yemi Akinwonmi, PDP Deputy National Chairman (South) as acting chairman. Hours later, a Kebbi State High Court ordered the return of Secondus as national chairman. Earlier, the party had announced October 30 and 31, 2021 for the conduct of its national convention that saw the emergence of a former President of the Senate, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, as national chairman.
Ayu, a consensus candidate for the position, took over the leadership of the party alongside 20 others elected into various positions of the NWC and it was envisaged that the main opposition political party was on a good stead in its bid to return to power. What however ensued was another round of infighting over the party’s presidential ticket for the 2023 general election. As expected, the May 28, 2022, presidential primary election of the party was characterised by highwire politicking that pitted the aspirants against each other. The contest was however won by Atiku, who polled 371 votes to defeat his major challenger, Wike, who garnered 237 votes. While most of the presidential aspirants pledged to rally behind Atiku and work for the success of the party at the presidential election, there was no doubt that the PDP further suffered polarization thereafter.
The infighting got worse over Atiku’s choice of the then governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running mate. Many had thought that Wike’s performance at the presidential primary would earn him the party’s vice-presidential ticket but that was not to be. It was reported that 14 members of the 17-man panel set-up by the party to advise its leadership and Atiku on the choice of vice presidential candidate recommended Wike but Atiku in his wisdom, opted for Okowa, an action that infuriated members of Wike’s camp. Wike insisted that Ayu must step down in line with a pre-convention agreement that he (Ayu) would step down for a southerner if a presidential candidate emerged from the North. Ayu, on his part, insisted that he was elected based on laid down rules of the party and that the presidential candidacy of Atiku did not in any way affect his position as PDP national chairman.
While Wike warned that Ayu might cause the party to lose the 2023 presidential election, some analysts then expressed the view that he was waging a veil battle against Atiku. Reasons for their conviction were not farfetched. Wike is not known to be a supporter of Atiku and he never hid his indifference to the former vice president’s ambition. Recall that Wike spearheaded an onslaught against Atiku’s 2019 presidential ambition by backing Aminu Tambuwal (then governor of Sokoto State) although Atiku eventually clinched the PDP ticket but lost the main election to Buhari of the APC. Also, Wike mobilized whatever he could to stop Atiku in the 2022 PDP presidential primary election and probably would have succeeded if not for the last-minute political horsetrading that saw Tambuwal withdrawing from the contest and backing Atiku.
The aftermath of the crisis was that five of the party’s governors known as G5 – Wike, Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Samuel Ortom (Benue) – withdrew support for Atiku. The consequence of their action was that the party went into the 2023 elections a divided house, and there is no disputing the fact that this contributed to PDP’s loss in the presidential poll. Atiku lost to his APC counterpart, Tinubu. He polled 6.9 million votes against Tinubu’s 8.7 million votes, while Peter Obi, who left PDP at the eve of its presidential primary election for Labour Party (LP), garnered 6.1 million votes to place third.
Mixed reactions over resignation
Expectedly, Atiku’s resignation from the PDP has stirred an interesting debate that will dominate the country’s polity in the days ahead. While the PDP said his resignation was informed by personal political interest, the ruling APC described it as move that poses no threat to its dominance. Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Iliya Damagum, who described the former vice president’s resignation from the party as a familiar pattern with politicians, said the party seems to be taking a wait-and-see approach and expecting Atiku to return in the future. His words: “Well, it is expected because this is not the first time and I don’t think it will be the last time.
Atiku’s actions reflect ambition without principle, not driven by ideology but by relentless personal pursuit. Whether PDP, ADC or another, Nigerians remain politically aware and will not be swayed
We are still expecting him any moment from now.” Damagum added that PDP is neither shocked nor overly concerned about Atiku’s exit, adding that the party is already accustomed to his repeated exits and returns over the years. According to him, the former vicepresident’s movement aligned with a historical pattern, implying that the party viewed his latest resignation as part of his political strategy rather than a final break from PDP.
Damagum further said the party’s calm response stemmed from its confidence in its resilience or skepticism over the permanence of Atiku’s decision. He said this was sequel to reports that he was forming a new political platform, ADC, in preparation for future elections. Oyo State governor, Makinde, who also spoke on Atiku’s resignation from the PDP, said it is better for anyone holding back the party to leave. “Politics is a game of interest. I don’t think his exit will make any dent on the PDP as a party.
The PDP is an institution. We have freedom of entrance and exit. Anyone who holds the PDP down; it is better for such an individual to quit. “What we must all realise is that players will come and go, governors will come and go, presidents will come and go, but our state and country will remain,” Makinde said. The APC, which seemingly believes that Atiku’s resignation from the PDP, will see him squaring against Tinubu for the second time in 2027, said the former vice president’s anticipated move to the ADC will not stop the President’s re-election.
APC’s Lagos spokesperson, Mr. Seye Oladejo, who described Atiku’s exit from PDP as a desperate, yet unsurprising, move reflecting a fractured opposition, added that the development confirms PDP’s imminent collapse and Atiku’s continued lack of political consistency. “Atiku’s actions reflect ambition without principle, not driven by ideology but by relentless personal pursuit. Whether PDP, ADC or another, Nigerians remain politically aware and will not be swayed. “The APC stands as the only party delivering real governance, economic gains, and solid infrastructure,” he said, adding that Atiku’s move allows voters to evaluate the integrity and consistency of those aspiring to lead. “Victory depends on our unity, past performance, and focus on peoplecentred development. Nigerians deserve visionary leadership, not theatrical comebacks.
APC is prepared to lead and win,” Oladejo said. The ADC camp, which is upbeat that a political heavyweight will soon join its fold, on its part, said suffering Nigerians are more than ever before convinced that they do not need the APC-led government beyond 2027 in order to regain their basic needs in life. Interim National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, who stated this, said that a government that could be callous in its first term in office would do worse things if given another chance, emphasised the party’s desire is to reduce cost of living in Nigeria if voted into office in 2027.
He urged Nigerians, particularly the electorate, to rally round the party to win the 2027 general election and kick out the Tinubuled APC government that has no feelings for the people. “The most important thing is that our job is half done with the current hunger in the land. The major task we have is to convince Nigerians that we are the alternative. “They can see the difference in the lifestyle of the people in government that have no iota of human feelings, except for themselves and members of their families. The gap between those in government and the people have become so widened. “What is clear is that Nigerians don’t want APC anymore.
Any Nigerian, who is suffering today, knows that they don’t want APC anymore. We shall and must convince Nigerians that we represent the alternative. “So, a hungry person knows he doesn’t want to continue to be hungry. A person who can’t afford to pay hospital bills knows that he doesn’t want to continue. So, we don’t have any problems convincing Nigerians that have suffered enough like never before and are still suffering. “Certainly, Nigerians cannot continue this way. The people need to be rescued and the ADC is on a mission to rescue Nigerians from the clutches of so-called leaders without human feelings.
“It is really painful to see Nigerians in agony as they cannot pay their hospital bills, feed as expected, can’t pay their children school fees and cannot afford cost of transportation and worst of it, increased and uncontrolled insecurity in the land is quite troubling.” Though Atiku’s action has earned him the tag of “serial defector,” he seems unperturbed having travelled such road severally in the past in his quest for the presidency and the fact it is his constitutional right to align with any political party, which he shares the same ideological convictions with. However, as Nigerians await his next move, developments ahead will determine whether ADC will be his last stop ahead of 2027 or he would hit the road again if he fails to realise his ambition of flying the party’s flag in the presidential election.
