By Ehichioya Ezomon
Only the uninformed – far removed especially from the daily haggle over the 2027 General Election – will express a modicum of surprise that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s again dumped the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a likely greener platform, the rave-of-the-moment African Democratic Congress (ADC).
To keen watchers of the polity, only a miracle or divine intervention could’ve kept Atiku in the PDP, whose unravelling and fast-declining fortunes are traceable majorly to his politics of self, entitlement, convenience, opportunism, rigidity and lack of respect for the party Constitution, thus brooking no other as more qualified than himself for the office of President of Nigeria.
Were it otherwise, Atiku – in line with the PDP Constitution that forbids the North or South of Nigeria to simultaneously hold the positions of national chairman and president/presidential candidate – would’ve compromised on the issue of ceding the chairmanship to the South, as he’d secured the presidential ticket for the North for the 2023 election.
As the acclaimed leader of the PDP since the lead-up to the 2019 election, Atiku’s adamant insistence on retaining the two positions in the North splittered the party, with five of 14 PDP governors working against him at the poll he’d a chance to win.
In his presidetial pursuits, Atiku’s demonstrated that he’s a politician that endures little or the least inconvenience, and will bolt out the door the moment he senses that his interest isn’t feasible any more or threatened by forces he can’t or won’t challenge, and just walk away.
It’s the third time since 1999 that Atiku would “port” the PDP ahead of a general election. He did so (partly as presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) while he’s vice pesident in the PDP government) before the 2007, 2015, and 2027 polls; but remained in the party prior to the 2003, 2011, 2019 and 2023 elections.
Save when he’s Governor-elect of Adamawa State before then-PDP presidential candidate Olusegun Obasanjo nominated him as his running mate for the 1999 election, Atiku’s aspiration to be president in 1993, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023 spans 30 years, in which period he’d a real shot at the presidency thrice in 2007, 2019 and 2023, but came short each time.
At 81 by 2027, that year’s election might be Atiku’s last attempt at the presidency, as younger and equally-ambitious members of the PDP have served notice that his time’s up, and they’re ready to battle for the party ticket with him for 2027.
Many of the young turks were still in their late twenties or early thirties when Atiku joined in the formation, nurturing and sustenance of the PDP to its apogee of the “largest political party in Africa,” which boasted it’d rule Nigeria for unbroken 60 years, but was halted in 2015 after only 16 years in the saddle by a merger of four opposition parties.
What does a willy old horse like Atiku do in such a circumstance before he’s caught napping? Of course, go to another welcoming platform to ply his ambition! It wasn’t a difficult decision to reach, as he’s virtually become a nomad in his political career!
And that’s the dream, the idea and the birth of the Coalition of Opposition Politicians (COP), whose members Atiku’s cleverly shepherded to the ADC (which I’ve graciously aliased, “Atiku Democratic Congress”) – the supposed special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the COP aspirants to contest in the 2027 poll.
The final act before departure came on Wednesday, July 14, 2025, when Atiku officially resigned his membership of the PDP, with the disclosure letter “leaked by rogue elements within the PDP and APC (All Progressives Congress),” as alleged by Atiku’s media adviser, Chief Paul Ibe, without denying the content, which reads:
“I am writing to formally resign my membership from the People’s 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 heartbreaking 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, recognizing 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.”
Again, no surprises here except Atiku’s indulgence in sophistry, with a sleight of hand about how it’s “indeed heartbreaking for me to make this decision,” and feigning “irreconcilable differences that have emerged” in the PDP he’s quitting at the most trying time in its 27-year existence.
It would’ve been better for Atiku to leave the PDP without uttering a word of excuse or alibi, or at best offer both gratitude and apology to a platform that exposed and elevated him to national politics and the presidency of Nigeria.
But alas, Atiku’s purposive, on his way out, to inflict the deepest and unkind cut on loyal PDP members, who’d unselfishly stood by him, time and again, when he returned to the party after he met with disappointments elsewhere!
Which’s why underneath the facade of members’ regrets over Atiku leaving the PDP, many see his exit as “good riddance to bad rubbish,” as he’d literally left the platform since his loss of the 2023 poll. Former Minister of Women Affairs and a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Josephine Anenih, alluded to this on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ on July 17.
Anenih said: “If you ask me, I would say he (Atiku) didn’t exit yesterday (when his letter was published); he had exited after the last election (in 2023). Because, after the last election, maybe he held a (press) conference once or something, and that was it. He has not attended any meeting.”
“Even the women of the Board of Trustees went to him and we told him that, ‘the party is drifting because there is no leadership, and we look at you as our ‘baba,’ as our leader and we expected you to take action, to be in the forefront, to give direction.'”
To Atiku’s letter being “leaked” and why the attempt to hoard it, Atiku’s media aide, Ibe, on Arise TV News on July 16, claimed the letter’s exposure was “deliberately timed to stir controversy and divert national attention (from burial of former Head of State and ex-President Muhammadu Buhari).”
Ibe’s words: “We’re here because people, who never wished His Excellency Atiku Abubakar well, leaked a communication of his. Yes, it was leaked. It is the handiwork of rogue elements in the PDP working in cahoots with APC members.
“Those who claim to know why he resigned, are they clairvoyants? I would rather say we speak on something else and not this particular issue, considering the fact that the nation is still in mourning and the memories of the late President, Muhammadu Buhari, who was just interred yesterday (July 15), are still fresh.”
In a reaction, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), not only described as “insensitive” Atiku’s purported publication of his letter during a period of national mourning, but also faulted his “using a letterhead bearing the Nigerian coat of arms,” noting that, “Atiku is no longer a government official and should not present correspondence in that manner.”
As a further confirmation of the letter’s undertone, Atiku and former Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai reportedly turned the Buhari private compound venue of the burial into a playground for politicking, throwing their weights around, and specifically gathering other opposition figures to pray at Buhari’s graveside.
If the letter wasn’t intended for publication during Buhari’s burial ceremonies, why didn’t Atiku wait for completion of the rites of passage before resigning from the PDP? Why the haste to coincide with the Buhari obsequies?
Truth is, Atiku had intended the letter to achieve political mileage at the funeral – hence he wrote it just a day after Buhari’s demise, and announcement of his burial plans – but he didn’t envisage the backlash it would generate.
So, his explanation for the letter’s publication is an attempt at cleaning up his miscalculation – a pattern that’s dogged his entire political life whenever he’s caught in his own game, and which he’s taken to the COP/ADC almagam.
Atiku’s “here again and there again” political attitude hasn’t been lost on particularly former PDP’s Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George, who, barely six days earlier on July 10, urged Atiku and other topshots to “remain, and work for the progress of the PDP,” as reported by TheNewsGuru on July 11.
Cautioning that, “those forming coalition should not forget they have traveled that way before, and it amounts to nothing and it will be good they remain in the party to help build it,” George, at a social engagement, tagged: “Restitution of Restoration,” in Lagos, said the PDP remains a strong platform, offering great opportunities for members, and where “the interest of the estranged party leaders can be better served.”
“There is no coalition in today’s Nigeria that can be stronger than PDP,” George said. “The PDP is a reborn political party that has weathered all storm and can never go under. All these leaders must return to this Iroko political party,” he added.
Labelling it “a disservice” to use the PDP to get into higher positions and then quit the party at the slightest opportunity, George asked such people to do a re-think. “They should take it easy, there is no way their congregating can pass the PDP strength. They have done it before, there is no major issue of contention in the PDP that can make them leave the PDP,” he said.
Still, George’s emphatic that the PDP hadn’t changed its decision to zone the presidency to Southern Nigeria in 2027 – a sticky point that’s driven Atiku and several northern presidential hopefuls from the PDP and APC to embrace the “marriage” between COP and ADC.
Rhetorically, George queried: “What is the contention about? Why do they want to leave the PDP? They want to be presidential candidate?
“Positions are zoned in the PDP. The founding fathers of the party zoned positions because lack of zoning of positions led to the collapse of the First and Second Republics (in 1966 and 1983, accordingly),” George added.
While George’s pleas didn’t stop Atiku from crossing the Rubicon, a redeeming feature lies in his meeting another disappointment at the ADC primary for its presidential ticket, or at the election in 2027, or if he simply drops his lifelong ambition to be President of Nigeria. Atiku, like the biblical prodigal son, could then return to an open-arms, welcome-home reception to the PDP!
But at this stage in the race for 2027, the “Turakin Adamawa” has moved on, and only the politically-naive will nurse the hope that he’ll return to the PDP just for asking him without factoring in his chances of one more shot at the Presidency!
*Mr Ezomon, journalist and media consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357.
