A former Vice President and chieftain of the All
progressives Congress, APC, Atiku Abubakar, has
denied knowledge of the groups of politicians
who announced their defection to the PDP from
the APC.
Atiku said in a statement by his media office in
Abuja that he remains a committed member of
the APC and urged that the purported defections
of these groups be discountenanced.
A total of 120 so-called pro-Atiku support groups
on Tuesday defected from the APC to the PDP.
They dumped the APC for the ruling PDP at an
elaborate ceremony held at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua
Centre, Abuja.
However, in a reaction, Turaki Vanguard, the
umbrella group of Mr. Atiku’s supporters said
members of the 120 groups were not supporters
of the former vice president.
The National Publicity Secretary of Turaki
Vanguard, Soji Bamidele, told PREMIUM TIMES
that the defectors were not Mr. Atiku’s loyalists as
they claimed.
“They are faceless groups, we don’t know them,”
he said.
Mr. Bamidele, who confirmed that Mr. Atiku was
being wooed back into the party, said the former
vice president “is not shifting ground and will
never go back to the PDP”.
Mr. Atiku was a member of the PDP before
decamping to the APC in 2014. He however failed
to pick the presidential ticket of the party, losing
to Muhammadu Buhari, who is flying the party’s
ticket in the March 28 presidential election.
While the groups were being received at the
Yar’Adua centre, Atiku was attending a meeting
with Mr. Buhari and media representatives.
Peter Ogar, national coordinator of Renaissance
for Socio-political Transformation of Nigeria, who
spoke on behalf of the groups, said they decided
to return to the PDP as there was no alternative
to President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said after critically analysing the president’s
development programmes, the groups came to
the conclusion that they surpassed all those
executed by previous governments in the country.
“We have understood the event of December 10,
2014, wherein our able leader, the Turakin
Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was, through a
gang up, denied us and indeed Nigerians the
chance to have a true option in the forthcoming
presidential election,” Mr. Ogar said.
“Accordingly, we had to take time to analyse the
inner workings of the current administration
under President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and
came to the conclusion that outside the Turaki,
there is no better candidate within any opposition
political party, hence the need for a rethink and
strategic political repositioning for the sake of our
great country, Nigeria.”
Receiving the defectors, the National Deputy
Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, assured
them that they were now in the right party.
“Today, you have decided to return, you have
equal rights with any other member of the party
who have been there for a long time,” Mr.
Secondus said. “You are free to engage in any
party activities especially at this time when we are
campaigning and election coming on the 28th.
“There would have been no better time for you to
show and to declare your support for the party
and our candidate, Jonathan. The rally point
today is Jonathan; he is the symbol of Nigerian
unity.”

http://www.saharareporters.com/2015/03/18/atiku-disowns-120-groups-defecting-pdp