The former Vice President made the big announcement on his twitter page
today. He will formally submit a letter tomorrow announcing he's left
the ruling party PDP for APC. See his press statement which he posted on
his
website after the cut. This next year is going to be very interesting in Nigeria
Press Statement by Atiku Abubakar, GCON, Turaki Adamawa and former
Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria on his Resignation from the
PDP and his Joining the APC.
In 2006, as a result of my firm stand in defence of our constitution
and our democracy, my supporters and I were pushed out of our party,
the Peoples Democratic Party, a party that we worked tirelessly with
other compatriots to build as a vehicle to restore democracy to our
country. We later returned to that party in 2009 when a new leadership
of the party and the country promised a new direction, a direction of
inclusiveness, of internal democracy, of an end to impunity, adherence
to the rule of law and respect for the dignity of members and Nigerians.
Sadly, however, those promises have not been kept. In addition, the
PDP continues to be beset with many crises, mostly leadership-induced
crises. It has since lost touch with Nigerians and efforts made by many
well-meaning members and stakeholders to bring it back to the vision of
the founders have been rebuffed. To demonstrate the seriousness of the
challenges and bring public attention to it I and some other leaders
and stakeholders staged a walkout during the party’s last convention in
Abuja.
As I speak, most of the issues that led to that walk-out are yet to
be addressed. Many founding members of the PDP, I included, continue to
be marginalized and excluded from the affairs of the party. For
instance as a former Vice President, I am by virtue of the PDP
constitution, a member of the party’s Board of Trustees and its National
Executive Committee. However, I am not invited to the meetings of
those organs nor consulted on their decisions, apparently because I
dared to exercise my right to contest in the party’s primary election
for a chance to be its flag-bearer in the 2011 elections. We have,
therefore, concluded that that party cannot be redeemed. In short the
PDP has abandoned Nigerians, the very people who gave it life and many
electoral victories.
More worrisome though is the danger posed to the continued existence
of this country by this culture of impunity and arbitrariness. We
continue to have threats from officially protected political
extremists. Increasingly our people are recklessly being divided along
the lines of religion, ethnicity and region for political gains. Our
history and that of many other countries in Africa and Eastern Europe
ought to teach us that this is very dangerous and must stop.