Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo North, says former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar should write a book on why politicians defect from one party to another.
The former Edo governor spoke on Tuesday during an appearance on ‘Politics Today’, a Channels Television programme.
Oshiomhole highlighted how Abubakar switched from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) while serving as vice-president, calling it one of Nigeria’s most significant political moves.
“But let me remind you that those who started defection — the most popular one in the history of Nigeria — is His Excellency Atiku Abubakar,” Oshiomhole said.
“When, as a sitting vice-president of Nigeria, he decamped from PDP to ACN — which is now part of APC — was he courted by no state at all?”
“Was he (Abubakar) courted by ACN, which was then led by Bola Tinubu — Asiwaju Tinubu — a non-state president at the time?”
Oshiomhole challenged claims about disunity within the ruling APC, pointing to the former vice-president’s actions as evidence that personal ambition drives political decisions.
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“Was Atiku Abubakar coerced by Tinubu to come and join us in ACN?” he asked.
“Did ACN coerce Atiku Abubakar to leave Obasanjo and PDP to pick our ticket and run as president?”
The Edo North senator also questioned whether anyone in the All Progressives Congress (APC) forced Abubakar to return to PDP after his presidential defeat.
“Did we force him to leave our party and return to PDP to contest against Jonathan?” Oshiomhole asked.
“When he lost, did we coerce him, without being in government, to come back to APC and run against Buhari?”
“I think the best person who can write a book on why people decamp should be the former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar.”
“It would be nice to ask him, as a sitting vice-president, you left your party, and you were courted by no state at all.”
Abubakar, who served as Nigeria’s vice-president from 1999 to 2007, has changed political parties multiple times throughout his career.
He joined the PDP in 1998 and became vice-president under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, but left in 2006 for the Action Congress (AC) due to internal conflicts and his principal’s alleged third-term agenda.
In 2009, Abubakar returned to PDP, only to leave again for APC in 2014. After three years with the ruling party, he abandoned APC, citing failed reforms, and rejoined PDP shortly afterwards, expressing renewed faith in the party.
