Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) has described former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the most prominent political defector in Nigeria’s history, suggesting that he is best suited to author a book on the subject.
Speaking during an interview on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme aired on Tuesday, Oshiomhole cited Atiku’s long history of party switches as evidence of his deep experience in political realignment.
“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?”
The former APC national chairman challenged the narrative that the ruling party lacks internal cohesion, saying Atiku’s numerous party defections are driven by personal ambition rather than ideological alignment.
“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?”
Atiku was Nigeria’s vice president from 1999 to 2007. He joined the PDP in 1998 but left in 2006 for the Action Congress (AC) amid tensions with then-President Olusegun Obasanjo. He returned to the PDP in 2009, left again for the APC in 2014 and defected back to the PDP in 2017.
Oshiomhole questioned whether Atiku’s return to the PDP after his presidential defeat was forced by anyone in the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Did we force him to leave our party and return to PDP to contest against Jonathan?” he 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.”
