PDP: Atiku’s game-changing move

Deputy Editor, LEON USIGBE, writes on the resignation of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the All Progressive Congress (APC) and his likely move to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has not joined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the political party he helped to found in 1998 but his resignation from the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) last week leaves nobody in doubt that he is headed for the platform that once provided him the platform to become the nation’s number two citizen.

His departure from the APC had long been rumoured amidst half-hearted attempts at denials which were no longer sustainable given the perceived recent onslaught by government agents on his business interests that, political watchers agree, was aimed at crippling him ahead of the 2019 presidential election. Since losing the APC presidential ticket to President Muhammadu Buhari, he had not concealed his desire to have another go in the next election. Some believe he was poised to challenge Buhari for the ticket and this is not what the ruling party is prepared to accommodate. Therefore, he must be made to realize that in the ruling party, there is no vacancy.

The Waziri Adamawa apparently wanted to work ahead of his party and did not want to be pushed out by its establishment. He took the plunge himself. Why? His hopes on APC became forlorn and disenchant set in.  With the benefit of hindsight, he now says he made a mistake joining  the party. He said he joined the APC because he believed that it was the beginning of the rebirth of the new Nigeria but “events of the intervening years have shown that like any other human and like many other Nigerians, I was fallible.”

 

Atiku’s regrets about APC

In his letter of resignation, Atiku expresses his regrets: “While other parties have purged themselves of the arbitrariness and unconstitutionality that led to fractionalisation, the All Progressives Congress has adopted those same practices and even gone beyond them to institute a regime of a draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy within the party and the government it produced.

“Only last year, a governor produced by the party wrote a secret memorandum to the president which ended up being leaked. In that memo,  he admitted that the All Progressives Congress had ‘not only failed to manage expectations of a populace that expected overnight ‘change’ but has failed to deliver even mundane matters of governance.’

“Of the party itself, that same governor said ‘Mr. President, Sir Your relationship with the national leadership of the party, both the formal (NWC) and informal (Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso), and former Governors of ANPP, PDP (that joined us) and ACN, is perceived by most observers to be at best frosty. Many of them are aggrieved due to what they consider total absence of consultations with them on your part and those you have assigned such duties.”

“Since that memorandum was written up until today, nothing has been done to reverse the treatment meted out to those of us invited to join the All Progressives Congress 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 All Progressives Congress while I take time to ponder my future.”

Atiku also gave reasons why he left the PDP in the first place, saying that the then ruling party had become factionalised as a result of the special convention of August 31, 2013. Hear him: “The fractionalisation of the Peoples Democratic Party 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 All Progressives Congress. It was on the basis of this invitation and the assurances made to me that I, being party-less at that time, due to the fractionalisation of my party, accepted on February 2, 2014, the hand of fellowship given to me by the All Progressives Congress.”

 

PDP lapping up the move

His exit from the APC was quickly welcomed by the PDP and its members across the country and particularly in his home state, Adamawa where the local PDP leadership mobilised to receive him at the airport when he returned home soon after the announcement. His resignation from the APC was a cheering news for Senator Ben Murray Bruce who immediately took to Twitter to congratulate him, salute his courage and urged him to return to the PDP. “I congratulate @Atiku for leaving the APC. It took courage especially as he has wide business investments that are already targets and could be further targeted. I, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, now appeal to Waziri Adamawa, to return to the house he helped build, the PDP,” he wrote on his personal handle. Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode took the same route: “Congrats to @atiku for dumping the plague called APC and coming back home to the PDP family. It took courage to take that bold step and I commend him for it.”

It is an understatement to say that the PDP is salivating at the prospect of having a political heavy weight such as Atiku back not just because he was vice president of the country but also because of how his enormously deep pocket can alter its floundering fortunes. In a way, the leading opposition party also feels vindicated that important members of the APC are now seeing the deceit the PDP has always maintained that the ruling party really is. Its spokesman, Dayo Adeyeye, was quick to argue that Atiku left the APC because he has seen the truth and the truth has set him free. Adeyeye immediately proclaimed that Atiku is welcome to the PDP without any preconditions if he chooses to come back to the party. Not only that, the former president will be free to contest for the presidential ticket of the party in accordance with the laid down procedures of the party’s constitution.

The party spokesman also appealed to other former PDP members who joined the APC to reconsider their position and return to the PDP, saying: “The former Vice President, Atiku who was one of the founding fathers, contested and won elections as governor of Adamawa State on the platform of the PDP. But before he was sworn in, he was nominated by Olusegun Obasanjo as his running mate and they were sworn in as President and Vice President. Again, they both ran in 2003. So, he is a true PDP man to the core.

However and unfortunately in 2013, they were deceived into believing that there was a platform that would correct all the ills in the PDP and that it could create an Eldorado in Nigeria.

“I believe they were deceived, people like Atiku, because we had challenges in our party at that point in time. They went and join the new party called the APC which we have all now seen; every Nigerian has seen, is a fallacy. The day APC was born marked a tragedy for Nigeria. It has been a monumental disaster for Nigeria. There is nothing progressive in them . Everything about them is unprogressive. Everything about them is complete disaster. It is human to make mistakes because we are not infallible. We have no knowledge of what will happen in the future. Human beings can always be deceived. But in John 8: 32, the Bible says ‘And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.’  I believe Atiku Abubakar has come to know the truth like he said in the statement that he has now known the truth, that the APC is not what they call themselves, is not a better platform. That platform is the worst platform in the history of politics in Nigeria. I believe that Atiku has seen the truth and the truth has now set him free and we thank God for that.

“Therefore, being a founding father and because we have an umbrella that is big enough to accommodate everybody, PDP is a democratic party. PDP is a free party and was conceived for all Nigerians and is free from all religious, ethnicity and geographical divisions. It has capacity to accommodate everybody. Our doors are open for him to come back to his home without any precondition. He is free to come back like every other Nigerian and we want to appeal to those who have not seen the truth and we are praying that they will soon see the truth so that the truth will set them free. And as soon as they are free, let them come back.”

 

APC licking wounds

While the PDP is welcoming him with open arms, the APC is left licking its wounds. Officially, the ruling party has yet to share its feeling on the move but Governor Nasir el-Rufai was ostensibly conveying that latent feeling when he dismissed Atiku’s resignation as of no consequence to the APC.   He said neither President Buhari nor the APC is worried because if Atiku Abubakar ever gets the presidential ticket of the PDP, he can never match the popularity of Buhari particularly in the north. El-Rufai made the remark after observing Friday Muslim prayers at the Villa Mosque with President Buhari. Therefore, it is not unlikely that the issue would have come up earlier at that meeting between the two men and the president would have himself been expecting the move.  “We knew he was going to leave in December, but he has left in November which is good because the earlier he leaves for where he belongs the better. He has changed political parties a few times. There is nothing surprising. Before the 2019 elections if situation changes and he thinks he can get the ticket in 2019 he will come back. That is what he has done a few times,” the APC governor mocked, confident that the party will not lose notable members on account of Atiku’s exit.

 

Atiku and rival PDP aspirants

But while Atiku contemplates his next political move, the PDP’s national convention has been scheduled to take place between 9 and 10 of December. The former APC chieftain’s announcement of his resignation last week is thought to have been influenced by his desire to be part of it. He is now expected to be back to his Jada Ward to re-register as a PDP member and to lead the Adamawa State delegation to the convention as a statutory delegate which his background as a former Vice President confers on him by the PDP constitution. He is assured of a waiver to contest for the party’s ticket judging by the often-voiced position of the National Caretaker Committee (NCC) which has throw the stake open for all members including the returnees.

Should he come into the party and thrown his hat into the ring, Atiku may have to contend with already well known presidential aspirants in the PDP including former Jigawa and Kano state governors, Sule Lamido and Ibrahim Shekarau respectively, and Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, who have all announced their intention to run, and others like NCC Chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Gombe State governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo who are thought to be warming up for the presidential race under the PDP. But if the past is anything to go by, observers believe, Atiku will not be afraid of the competition. His possible return will be a game-changing move and a mouth-watering prospect for the PDP faithful.