Former Vice Preident Atiku Abubakar has finally ditched the ruling All progressives Congress.
Atiku announced Friday through a spokesman said he was quitting the ruling All Progressives Candidate, he helped to form to wrestle power from former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Although he has not said where next he is to ancor his tent, it has been long believed that the former vice president is heading back to the Peoples Democratic Party, where he is going to bid for their presidential ticket in 2019.
Feelers from the opposition PDP indicate that they are favourably disposed to picked their flagbearer from the Northeast, where Abubakar hails from, theough it has zoned the ticket to the North generally.
Although some integrity issues have been raised against him, none has been proven and he has never been prosecuted for any such offenses.
He was said to have been investigated on matters verging on corruption by US authorities but was not found culpable
Abubakar is the first political heavyweight to signal a likely bid for the presidency, which could pit him against 74-year-old Buhari, who took power in 2015 but has been absent for much of this year due to illness.
His greatest quality is that he is a bridge builder who does not all his ethnic or religious background impinge on his relationships with people.
Besides, he is a wealthy business man who would not be lacking in resources to prosecute presidential election in Nigeria, which incidentally is a costly venture.
Questions over Buhari’s fitness or willingness to run in 2019 are rife in Nigeria, both within and outside his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party, which Abubakar had earlier quit in an unprecedented public rupture.
Divisions within the party have been exacerbated by Buhari’s recent long absences abroad for treatment for an unexplained ailment and discontent with his administration. The main opposition is also struggling to maintain unity, according to party members.
In a statement announcing he was leaving the party, Abubakar said the APC “has failed and continues to fail our people” and accused it of “a draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy within the party and the government”.
A spokesman later told Reuters that Abubakar, who was Nigeria’s vice president from 1999 to 2007 and has made numerous unsuccessful bids to become the country’s leader, “is prepared to run for the presidency in 2019”.
An APC spokesman declined to comment on Abubakar’s departure.
