Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has formally announced his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Atiku announced this in a press statement Sunday afternoon.
READ: Full Statement By Atiku Abubakar On His Defection from PDP to APC
Atiku had on Saturday hinted of his defection from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC when he tweeted via his handle @atiku saying that: “My friends, I shall be making a major announcement tomorrow. And I will be sharing it with you.”
He had in the past few weeks embarked on nationwide consultation with his associates over whether to join the APC or remain in the PDP.
During the state-wide consultations which included visits to governors and other chieftains of the APC, Atiku told his associates and stakeholder that the consultations were as a result of the recent visit of the APC leadership to him as well as the invitation extended to him to join the party and salvage the nation’s democracy.
This would be the second time the former VP would be leaving the PDP, of which he is a founding member, for the opposition.
In 2006, Atiku left the PDP to join the defunct Action Congress, AC where he ran and lost the Presidency on the party’s platform in 2007. He however returned to the PDP after the 2007 elections and sought the presidential ticket of the party in 2011, but was defeated at the primary election by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Since Atiku’s defeat in the primaries, the former president has not been active in the party he helped to form in 1998.
He had few days ago expressed disaffection over what he claimed to be a deliberate plot to frustrate him out of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Atiku who spoke with newsmen at the weekend, further declared that the leadership of the three strategic organs of the party had alienated him.
As a statutory member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, having been elected Nigeria’s vice-president on the platform of the party, Atiku said he was not being invited to meetings of the BOT.
“I am a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) by right under the constitution of PDP. But I have been barred from its meetings because invitations are not extended to me,” Atiku said.
Signs that the Turakin Adamawa would leave the PDP began to emerge when he led five governors to walk out of the PDP mini convention held on August, 31, 2013 in Abuja.
The governors were Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Abdulafathah Ahmed of Kwara, Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano and Mu’azu Aliyu of Niger state. Two other governors, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers later joined the dissident group at the Shehu Yar’adua centre, where they announced a faction of the PDP known as the ‘new PDP’.
Five of the seven governors moved to the APC in October last year, while Governors Lamido and Aliyu chose to remain in the PDP.
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