Tinubu,Nyako Others Attend Atiku's Defection In Yola

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, formally joined All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he did not join the party so as to run for the presidency, but to nurture it and ensure good governance returns to Nigeria in 2015. 

At the rally organised by the Adamawa State chapter of APC to formally welcome Atiku into the fold, the former Bayelsa State governor recalled that he was at the same venue in 2011 to campaign for the election of Jonathan as president.

“I am around now to apologise to you people, because Jonathan has failed to perform to expectation. The ship of the state is sinking and I am here to solicit for your support to bring in an APC government to salvage the situation,” he said.

Also speaking on the occasion, national leader of APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, said he was also around to formally welcome Atiku back home.

He thanked Governor Murtala Nyako for having the courage for coming together by showing unity, happiness and hope in his decision to team up with APC.
“Though tribe and tongue may differ, together in brotherhood we stand and together we shall bury the Poverty Development Party (PDP),” he said.

He urged the people to register with APC so that “we can rebuild Adamawa State and Nigeria by sweeping out PDP from power.”

While formally welcoming the former vice president to the APC, the interim national chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, described him as a “big fish,” adding that APC was lucky to have him back.

In his short address, Atiku charged the people to see their registration as members of APC as a matter of necessity in rebuilding Nigeria.

Governor Nyako described former vice president as his senior political brother who had just led the prayer for the burial of the PDP, adding that “we are all behind him to say amen. With the brooms in our hands, we shall sweep away all the problems of Nigeria.”

The rally was attended by Chief Chief Audu Ogbe, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, Senators Danjuma Goje, Sani Yerima Ahmed, Ahmadu Sheriff Musa, Bindo Jibrilla, Aisha Jumai Alhasan; other members of the National Assembly, among others.

Atiku, in an interview with the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) Hausa service, monitored in Kaduna, said if it were because of a presidential ambition, he had clear chances of occupying the number one seat when he was in office, or even recently when he was in the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), but he let that go in the interest of the nation.

The Turaki Adamawa, however, vowed that he would never return to PDP since, from all indications, the party would no longer be what it used to be.

According to him, “PDP was built and nurtured to grow, but unfortunately, some people had turned it to something else, with no remedy in sight.”

Atiku, during his visit to the Sokoto State governor, Aliyu Wamakko, also on Monday, said the APC leadership was committed to building a strong and united party.
“All of us are now willing to set aside our individual ambitions so as to build a formidable APC.

“So, for now, we are not talking about how to pursue our selfish political aspirations. We are collectively working to ensure the growth of the APC,” he said.

He commended the people of Sokoto State for rallying behind him always, recalling that he got the highest number of votes from the state delegates during the 2011 PDP presidential primary.

Responding, Wamakko said that the APC’s struggle was aimed at salvaging the North and Nigeria in general.

The governor urged leaders of the party to put Nigeria first and not their individual ambitions.

“I am appealing to you not to repeat the costly blunders of 2011 in order to achieve our vision and mission of salvaging Nigeria,” he added.

Wamakko said God did not make a mistake by creating Nigerians with diverse religious and ethnic differences, adding that all Nigerians needed was a united country where the citizens would be equal stakeholders.