Nigeria’s former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has formally picked his African Democratic Party (ADC) membership card, signalling that he has become a card-carrying member of the party.
Abubakar, 79, was Bola Tinubu’s biggest opponent in the 2023 presidential election, securing 6.984 million votes or 29.07 percent of the total votes cast.
Tinubu, now president, secured 8.794 million votes in the election, marking a 36.61 percent of all the votes cast.
Atiku, who contested the 2023 election under the aegis of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was followed by the reform-minded Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who secured 6.101 million votes or 25.4 percent of all the votes cast.
The former vice president had resigned his membership of the PDP in July this year.
Abubakar, in his resignation letter, addressed to the chairman of his PDP ward in Jada, Adamawa State, had pointed to fundamental disagreements and a perceived deviation from the party’s original ideals as his reasons for leaving.
Read also: I have no plans to step down for anyone – Atiku
His departure from the PDP came after a period of sustained internal conflict within the party – after his two unsuccessful bids to become the president of Nigeria on the party’s platform.
Abubakar, who contested for the office of the president six times, lost to late former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 and the current President Bola Tinubu in 2023, both of who won the presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Abubakar had contested the position under the auspices of the Action Congress in 2007 (AC). He had also lost three primary elections.
Abubakar himself confirmed that he collected his ADC card on his official X handle account on Monday through the photograph he shared while holding his new ADC membership card, accompanied by the succinct caption, “It’s official.”
The former PDP presidential candidate had pulled out of the party to form a coalition of political like minds, such as Nasir El- Rufai, former Kaduna State governor, and Rotimi Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers State.
The coalition of opposition figures publicly endorsed and unveiled the ADC as its unified platform for the upcoming 2027 presidential race, followed by a confirmation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Only recently, the former VP donated his presidential campaign office, Wuse, Abuja, to the ADC as its national headquarters.
The former vice president is expected to run again for the presidential election in 2027.
