Nigeria Content Online

The exit of the former presidential
candidate of the Action Congress, Atiku Abubakar and his supporters
from the party is a “good riddance to bad rubbish”, Jide Awe, the Ekiti
State chairman of Action Congress, said yesterday.

Mr. Awe said people such as Mr.
Abubakar, who recently announced his return to the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), would find it difficult to remain in the progressive camp.

The AC leader also said the exit of the
former vice president from the party will not affect its performance in
the 2011 general elections.

“Consistently, I have been saying that
Atiku as a capitalist will find it very difficult to settle down in a
progressive camp,” he said.

“If he is moving back to PDP, to me, it
is good radiance to bad rubbish because, ideologically, Atiku is not
fit to be in any progressive camp judging from his background.

“Atiku’s staying with AC is like taking
a fish out of water. It is obvious that the AC saved him from the
humiliation and rescued him from political crisis in 2006 and the AC
has satisfied its conscience as party. We saved him from a very
difficult situation.

“The exit of Atiku will not affect the
fortune of AC in the 2011 general elections because we have a lot of
progressives in the North who are ready to come home to their normal
base.”

Jackson Adebayo, the Director of
Communication and Strategy for the Ekiti State chapter of the PDP,
however described the vice president’ decision as “courage of a
political icon and astute political leader.”

“Everybody in the PDP is waiting for
his return to the party. It is an advice to other opposition members
and those aggrieved to make sure that they come back to the party,” he
said.

Meanwhile, a leading member of the
Action Congress from the North East region of the country, Yusuf Buba
said that Mr. Abubakar has not officially informed the party of his
defection and described the proposed defection as a wrong step.

“I don’t think it is reasonable at this
time, because the country needs a strong opposition at this time. I
don’t support the politics of if you cannot beat them you join them. It
is not the best thing to do.” He said.

Also, the Conference of Nigerian
Political Parties (CNPP) described Mr, Abubakar’s return to PDP as a
blessing to the progressives.

According to its National Chairman Maxi
Okwu, “the defection will enable true progressives in Nigeria to work
toward achieving their goals. It would have been impossible for the
progressives to take over power in Nigeria with people like Atiku whose
ideologies differ from theirs”.