Atiku returns to PDP
of the House of Representatives and had already informed them that he would take active part in the party’s convention.
While announcing his formal defection yesterday, Atiku said, “I am speaking to you today on Facebook Live as I want to reach as many of our young people as possible as I have an important announcement to make about the future of Nigeria.
“As it is you, our youths, who represent the future of our nation, I have found in my travels across the country that whenever I get into conversations with young people their number one concern is whether they will be able to get a job for without a job they have no means of sustaining themselves or begin a family.
“And without the security of a job we cannot have security in our country. So without jobs there is no future for you or for Nigeria.
“And I also know as a parent that the older generation is also concerned about jobs for their children and, too often today, for themselves as well.
“Creating jobs is something I know about as I have created over 50,000 direct jobs and 250,000 indirect jobs in my own State of Adamawa.
“And I also know how the Government can help create the right environment for businesses to create jobs. When I was Vice President in 1999 I was responsible for liberalising the telecoms sector which enabled us to increase the number of people who could access a phone from less than 1 million then to over 100 million today.
“This transformation resulted in the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs from the top-up card vendors you see on every street corner to the many new businesses that fed off the mobile phone revolution.
“Some of you may know that I was elected Vice President under the banner of the PDP, which is the political party I had helped to found some ten years before.
“And some of you may also know that I left the PDP four years ago when I believed it was no longer aligned to the principles of equity, democracy and social justice upon which we had founded it.
“I joined the APC as I had hoped it would be the new force that would help improve life for our people and I was excited about the party’s manifesto to create 3 million new jobs a year.
“The result has not been the change people had been promised or voted for, as in the last two years almost 3 million Nigerians have lost their jobs.
“And today with a record 25% of people aged 18-25 unemployed I can see how difficult it is for our youths to find a job. The key to creating jobs is a strong economy and that is what we are currently lacking.
“So, today I want to let you know that I am returning home to the PDP as the issues that led me to leave it have now been resolved and it is clear that the APC has let the Nigerian people, and especially our young people, down.
Between 1999 to date, Atiku had moved from one political party to the other, including the PDP, the defunct Action Congress (AC), partially in Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), then back to the PDP, then the APC and now the PDP.
You can’t defeat Buhari
But the APC said yesterday that Atiku would not match President Buhari in 2019, saying they are poles apart in terms of popularity and acceptability.
The National Secretary of the party, Maimala Buni, told the Daily Trust that Nigerians would never trust the PDP and whoever it showcased as its candidate.
“As a political party, we would always maintain an open door policy because the APC belongs to the people. We would strive to be fair and just and above all, ensure that we deliver the promises we made to the electorate.
“Undoubtedly, Nigerians would attest to the fact President Muhammadu Buhari has remained committed in stabilising the polity as evident in achievements recorded in the fight against corruption, security and the economy. They would therefore not succumb to any obstruction.
“And most importantly, President Buhari’s performance will stand him out any day, anytime. We strongly believe that Nigerians are satisfied with his performance in the last two and a half years and would trust him with their votes if he decides to contest for a second term in 2019. What counts most in politics is the trust and President Buhari is trustworthy, far and above any other contender.
“The president would definitely defeat any candidate showcased by any political party, including Atiku Abubakar,” he said.
His exit to PDP means nothing to us - APC
When contacted, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, said that the movement of Atiku to the PDP did not mean anything to the ruling party because he had the democratic right to do so.
Abdullahi said, “The fact that he has joined the PDP does not mean anything to us. He has left our party. He can join any party whether APGA or any other party, it doesn’t matter to us.”
When told that the former Vice President said the president lost interest in the ruling party after winning the 2015 election, the APC spokesman responded, “Maybe you can also ask: what efforts he made to correct those things when he was with us. For me, like I said, he doesn’t have to give any reason. It should be his democratic right to leave and join any party. The moment he continues to feel obliged to give reasons, the more it begins to sound like he is looking for excuses.”
However, calls and text messages sent to the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Chairman, National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin were not responded to at the time of filing this report.
But thé Secretary of the PDP in Adamawa State, Barr. Tahir Shehu, confirmed the formal defection of Atiku to thé party, saying the chapter had received à letter from him.
Shehu described the APC as à “crumbling house without one of its pillars.”
He said that they were optimistic that Atiku’s defection would mark a new dawn for the PDP.
His return, a welcome development - Ekweremadu
Also, the most senior chieftain of the PDP in the legislative and Deputy Senate president, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said the return of the former Vice President to the PDP was not only a welcome development for the party, but the nation’s democracy.
Ekweremadu said the move represented a massive vote of no confidence in the leadership capacity of the ruling APC first, by the masses, and now by the cream of its hierarchy and founding members.
He said, “Nigeria is in dire need of a rescue mission to rekindle hope in our democracy, restore her on the path of prosperity, and halt the worsening divisiveness that threatens our corporate existence.
“I, therefore, enjoin all former PDP faithful who left for various reasons as well as other progressive-minded Nigerians to emulate Alhaji Atiku, to reunite under the umbrella to salvage the nation because I see a new and better Nigeria coming in 2019.