Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has written the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), intimating the party of his decision to quit.
\nThough the letter was dated October 18, 2017, the national leadership of the party had last Friday denied receiving any such notice from the former vice president.
\nIn the letter, Atiku said his decision to quit the ruling party was not about him but about the future of the country as a democratic entity.
\n\u201cI am unable to reconcile myself with the dismal performance of the party in government, especially in relation to the continued polarisation of our people along ethnic and religious lines, which is threatening our unity more than any other time in the recent past and the unbeatable hardship that our people are currently undergoing\u201d, he stated.
\nAddressed to the party\u2019s ward chairman in his Jada 1 Ward, Jada Local Government, Adamawa State, Atiku in the letter said he was disturbed by the dismal performance of the APC, describing the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration as a threat to Nigeria\u2019s unity due to its penchant for polarising Nigerians along ethnic and religious lines. In the resignation letter acknowledged by Usman Muazu, a copy of which was obtained by The Tide correspondent, the Wazirin Adamawa said; \u201cI wish to inform you of my decision to resign my membership of the All Progressives Congress APC in this ward with effect from the date of this letter.\u201d Atiku said there has to be a country first before politicians can aspire to lead it.
\n\u201cI am resigning from a party we formed and worked so hard, with fellow compatriots across the country, to place in government. I had hope that the APC government will make improvements to the lives of our people and the continued existence and development of Nigeria as one indivisible nation.
\nThis hope has now been dashed. \u201cAs I said in 2006, it is the struggle for democracy, constitutionalism and service to my country and my people that are driving my choice. Let me emphasise again that this is not about me.
\nWe have to have a country before people can aspire to lead it,\u201d he said. He expressed optimism that APC followers in the state would soon join him in the bid to \u201cdefeat impunity and restore vision and purpose\u201d to Nigeria\u2019s politics.
\n\u201cWhile wishing you well, let me express the hope that in the near future, a substantial number of you will join forces with us to once again defeat impunity and restore vision and purpose to the politics of our great country. Please accept the assurances of my highest regard.\u201d
\nAtiku had last Friday resigned from the APC citing the pervading undemocratic atmosphere in the party among other issues as reasons for his decision.
\nMeanwhile, the Adamawa State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has confirmed the receipt of the resignation letter of former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
\nThe state Secretary of APC, Saidu Nera confirmed the development, yesterday to newsmen in Yola.
\nNera said he had yet to get the letter, but the party officials of Jada 1 Ward in Jada Local Government Area where Atiku registered had told him that they had received the letter.
\nSimilarly, the former Vice President, who, last Friday, announced his decision to leave APC, has arrived in Yola where he is now engaged in a series of meetings with the Peoples Democratic Party officials at all levels who keep trooping to his house to woo him back into the party.
\nOur source reports that the former vice president has, so far, met with Adamawa PDP executives at all levels, as well as state chairmen from the six states that comprise the North-East, including the national vice chairman, North-East of the party.
\nCommenting on the meeting between Atiku and the state executives of PDP, the state Secretary of PDP, Abdulllahi Prambe said the meeting was \u2018fruitful.\u2019
\n\u201cOur meeting with him has been fruitful and from his body language, he will soon return to PDP,\u201d Prambe said.
\nPrambe said that it would be a big boost to the party at the state and national levels when Atiku finally returns.
\n\u201cWith Atiku, the party will carry more weight and more people will also troop in,\u201d Prambe said.
\nWhen contacted on the development, Atiku\u2019s spokesman, Mr. Paul Ibe declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has written the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), intimating the party of his decision to quit. Though the letter was dated October 18, 2017, the national leadership of the party had last Friday denied receiving any such notice from the former vice president. In the letter, Atiku said his decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":165329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=165328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/165329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=165328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=165328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=165328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}