Senator Adams Oshiomhole has characterized former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as Nigeria’s most recognized political defector, asserting that no one is better suited to author a book on party defections than him.
During his appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, Oshiomhole highlighted Atiku’s frequent political transitions as indicative of a long-standing pattern motivated more by personal ambition than ideological commitment.
Oshiomhole stated, “Let me remind you that the most notable figure in Nigeria’s defection history is His Excellency Atiku Abubakar. When he, as a sitting vice president, switched from the PDP to the ACN, which is now part of the APC, was he not pursued by any state at all? Was he courted by the ACN, led at the time by Bola Tinubu—an individual who was not a state president?”
The former APC national chairman seized the opportunity to refute claims about his party’s lack of unity, contrasting it with Atiku’s history of multiple party switches.
He posed the question, “Was Atiku Abubakar pressured by Tinubu to join us in the ACN? Did ACN compel him to abandon Obasanjo and the PDP to secure our ticket for the presidency?”
Atiku, who served as vice president from 1999 to 2007, initially joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998, left for the Action Congress (AC) in 2006 due to a fallout with then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, returned to the PDP in 2009, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014, and ultimately returned to the PDP in 2017.
Oshiomhole further criticized Atiku’s reversion to the PDP following his defeat in the APC presidential primaries, questioning, “Did we compel him to leave our party and return to the PDP to contest against Jonathan? When he lost, did we pressure him to come back to the APC and run against Buhari?”
In a pointed conclusion, Oshiomhole remarked, “I believe the most qualified individual to write a book on the reasons behind political defections should be the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar. It would be intriguing to ask him why, as a sitting vice president, he chose to leave his party while being courted by no state at all.”
