Nigeria’s former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, is set to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that is according to one of his associates, Mr. Ahmed Lawan.
Mr Lawan, who is the Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress in Adamawa State, disclosed on Saturday that the former custom boss would formally register as a member of the PDP at his Jada ward 11, in Yola, the state capital on Sunday (today).
He said Atiku’s return to his former party was based on the motivation he received from the PDP leadership towards the realisation of his ambition to contest the 2019 presidential election.
Lawan, however, warned, Atiku to have a rethink of his action because his resignation might mark the end of his political career.
He said, “He (Atiku) told the whole world that he was in the APC to stay, and that even if anything would make him to leave the APC, he would retire from politics.
He noted that Atiku did not see the possibility of defeating President Muhammadu Buhari in the primary of the APC.
He said, “He is making a grave mistake because Buhari has yet to make any statement as to whether he will contest the 2019 presidential election or not. So, why is he in a haste?”
Meanwhile, the Director General of the Atiku Abubakar Media Office, Mr. Paul Ibe, dismissed the report, that Atiku will return to the PDP on Sunday.
He, however, said the former vice-president was currently engaged in “a high level discussion that would enable him to return to the PDP.”
“What I know is that there are ongoing discussions for him (Atiku) to return to the PDP. It is something that a timeline cannot be attached to. But I know that there are engagements in that direction,” he said.
In another development, campaign vehicles having the picture of Mr Atiku on it with the PDP logo is already in circulation on the social media.