As Atiku quits PDP

The decamping of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar erstwhile Vice-President from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC) has put paid to the impression that Atiku is not a serious politician, but just an opportunist, taking into account his political life. He left the PDP to form the rested Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and became its flag bearer in the 2007 presidential election. He later ditched the party after the election and returned to the PDP amidst stiff opposition from the Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State when his supporters were at the helms of affairs of the party with Alhaji Mijinyawa Kugama as the state chairman until he received a waiver from the national leadership of the party.
A lot of his admirers went through traumatic experiences including this writer when he left the party to form ACN. We were called all manner of names because of our sympathy for his political cause. But surprisingly, he still came back in 2011 to admonish his supporters to campaign for PDP and Nyako as the governorship candidate of the party in Adamawa State.
In the Adamawa State House of Assembly bye-election for Nassarawo/Binyeri, Atiku was at the fore front in campaigning for the PDP by spending huge fortunes to see that the party won against Nyako’s candidate on the platform of Kowa party.
Quite a lot of his admirers and supporters have since realised the fact that Atiku Abubakar is not someone playing politics based on any ideology and therefore parted ways with his political cause. The people came to face the stark reality that he was an ambitious politician looking at short cut to ascend the mantle of leadership of this country.
His latest defection to APC has proved beyond reasonable doubt, that the once strong politician is dead politically. Worse of all is the fact that those who still believe in his political cause would be mere onlookers if they follow him to his new abode. This can aptly be seen in Adamawa State where the major stakeholders in the APC, namely, the Governor Nyako, Brig-General Muhammadu Buba Marwa and Engineer Markus Gundiri have since inaugurated the interim leadership of the APC with their stooges in charge.
Atiku’s political clout has since diminished in Adamawa State as a result of shifting base from one political party to another in his craze o become president and I hold the strong conviction that his entry into the APC would not add any value to the party as quite a lot of his admirers and supporters having realised that he is not a straight forward person would never heed his advice into joining his new found home in order to remain relevant.
A strong and hitherto shrewd politician like Atiku has since battered his political life by jumping from one political party to another. Right now, in Adamawa State, the PDP has got a big fish in the person of Mr. Boni Haruna and from how his admirers are trailing behind him since he left the position of governor, the APC seriously needs to tighten its belt with or without Atiku.                                                  The people are becoming wiser and sophisticated in the art of politics and can determine genuine and real politicians from the opportunist ones. Time shall tell.

Usman Santuraki,
No2, Santuraki Close,
Jambutu Ward, Jimeta, Yola