Mixed reactions trail Atiku’s return to PDP

Last Sunday, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, announced his return to his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) after over three years of sojourn. TOPE SUNDAY AND NNODIM EUPHERASIA, report the mixed feelings trailing his defection.

His defection, waste of time

Definitely, it’s going to affect his political career because as Governor el Rufai of Kaduna State said, we know him as a person who moves from one party to another. So, it’s going to be bad for him. Assuming it’s a new party (he defected to), it will be understandable, he can contest and can win but he wouldn’t understand, all those parties need his money. Even PDP that accepted him back won’t give him what he wants. What they need from him is money. I believe he is only wasting his time because Nigerians already see him as a man of mistrust. Salisu Haruna – Journalist

 

Atiku can’t be trusted

A politician who cannot be trusted by his own party members cannot be trusted by the nation at all, because the same way he has left the party, it is the same way he will leave the nation.

Atiku is not a one party man, he is a shuffler and should be watched because such a man can make a bad leadership. He is moving around, and finally has returned to the party he rejected, that’s why he won’t achieve his aim. Musa Haruna – Self-Employed

People should stop crucifying him

It’s a very good idea. He is moving from one place to another not because of anything; when you are in a party and you are not accommodated, you have to look for another alternative and that is the reason Atiku moved from PDP to APC because of the treatment given to him. But now, he has returned after his defeat to say that APC is a failure to the nation, even though it’s a political statement. If you check what is going on there in APC, Atiku knew that they won’t give him a chance and won’t even win the primary election. So, if you know that people will not allow you to participate, you will simply move to the next party, and that’s what Atiku is doing.

He wouldn’t seat back and watch his career being destroyed all in the name of ethnicity. Why Atiku moved from PDP to APC in the first place is because APC was giving out tickets to northerners and you know Atiku is a man of all people. And that he has come back to prove to Nigerians, he has come to place things right. In politics, there is no permanent enemy and even permanent friend, politics is all about interest, you can’t say because I want to be a friend to this person then you waste with him. Even Mamma (Taraba) that said she wants to leave Buhari and move with Atiku has not done that and believe me, many of APC members will also do so. It may turn around if Mamma Taraba finds out that Atiku cannot deliver. So it’s a normal thing to move from one party of interest to the next, so people should stop crucifying him for that, because I see nothing wrong in it.

People say that Buhari is a man of his words, that’s because he is still in APC but forgetting that the president had moved from one party to the other in the past. Remember, he started with the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and lost and when the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) came out, he also contested for an elective position; and now he is in the APC. So, it’s a normal culture in the political line. All we need is a better person who can change situation of things; people are starving, truly APC has failed us. But I believe, Atiku is the man of the people, he is going about trying to fit in and save the nation, I believe he will win this election. APC leaders have really failed us and believe me, Nigerians will discover the truth about them very soon after their primary election, that APC has an internal problem. Kelechi Victor – Businessman

Nothing wrong with his defection

I do not see anything wrong with Atiku taking chances where there is one. This is politics and it doesn’t destroy career, prisoners come out to hold top positions. If Atiku is the saviour of the country why crucifying him? He deserves a chance. During the time he acted as Obasanjo’s vice president, he did so well and despite the fact that Obasanjo didn’t give room for anyone to counter his decisions, he still made a great impact in the lives of Nigerians. So if he believes running from one party to the other is what he could do to achieve his political ambition, then so be it, as long as he is ready to move us out of the pain we are living in this country. Oby Isiah – Computer Engineer

The ex-VP’s defection’ll not affect Buhari

To me and many Nigerians, we did not receive the news of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar leaving the APC and eventually defecting to PDP with shock as he is known to be a serial defector. He always leaves a party once his demand is not met. He has a brighter political future at PDP and has a good track record, he can get people’s acceptance over some of his colleagues in the opposition party. The reality of the matter is that ‘Atiku cannot rule Nigeria with his impatience. And if he or any other aspirant for the presidential election in PDP contests against Buhari come 2019, the president will win because according to the people, ‘a known devil is better than an unknown angel’ and that means, Nigerians will be presented with bad, worse and worst candidates i.e. Buhari, Atiku (or a PDP flag bearer) & another major contestant respectively, and I believe Nigerians will prefer bad to worse or worst. Usman Haruna – Graduate

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