By OBSERVERS TIMES
Senator Adams Oshiomhole has labeled former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as Nigeria’s most prominent political defector, suggesting that no one is better suited to author a book on party defections than Atiku himself.
During an appearance on Politics Today, a program aired by Channels Television on Tuesday, Oshiomhole pointed to Atiku’s history of political shifts as evidence of a long-standing pattern driven by ambition rather than ideology.
“But let me remind you that the most notable defector in Nigeria’s history is His Excellency Atiku Abubakar,” Oshiomhole stated. “When he was sitting as vice president, he decamped from the PDP to the ACN, which is now part of the APC. Was he not courted by any state at all?”
He further questioned whether Atiku was persuaded by Bola Tinubu, then leader of the ACN, to make the switch. “Was Atiku Abubakar coerced by Tinubu to join us in ACN?” Oshiomhole asked, challenging the notion that his party lacks cohesion by highlighting Atiku’s numerous party changes.
Oshiomhole continued, “Did ACN force Atiku Abubakar to leave Obasanjo and the PDP to seek our ticket and run for president?”
Atiku, who served as Nigeria’s vice president from 1999 to 2007, has a history of political realignment. He joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998, left for the Action Congress (AC) in 2006 amid a fallout with then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, returned to the PDP in 2009, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014, and eventually returned to the PDP in 2017.
Oshiomhole continued his critique by questioning Atiku’s decision to return to the PDP after losing the APC presidential primaries. “Did we force him to leave our party and return to the PDP to contest against Jonathan? When he lost, did we coerce him, without being in government, to come back to the APC and run against Buhari?” he asked.
In a pointed conclusion, Oshiomhole remarked, “I think the best person who can write a book on why people decamp should be the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar. It would be interesting to ask him why, as a sitting vice president, he left his party and was courted by no state at all.”
