How Atiku’s Ambition Destroyed PDP

 How Atiku’s Ambition Destroyed PDP

The near irredeemable crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) didn’t start today but began in 2013 when the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar formed the new PDP and led five governors and other prominent members of the PDP into the new PDP.

The five governors were Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers State), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano State), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa State), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara State) and Magatakarda Wamakko (Sokoto State).

Abubakar Kawu Baraje became the chairman of the new PDP which later joined the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC).

Thus, the underlying motivation and sole aim of Atiku forming the new PDP and joining the APC was to grab the party’s presidential ticket.  However, and unfortunately too, Atiku lost the contest to Mr. Muhammadu Buhari who scored 3,430 votes while he pulled 954 votes.

The APC’s presidential primary was held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium on December 11,2014.

After Mr. Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential election in February 2015, Atiku Abubakar left Nigeria for the United Arab Emirate for a very long time.

In 2017, Atiku Abubakar left the APC citing its “Failure to deliver on promises,” and rejoined the PDP on December 3, 2017.

Nevertheless, as the 2019 general elections drew close, Atiku Abubakar told members of the party that the PDP lost the presidential election to the All Progressives Congress in 2015 because the party failed to give the presidential ticket to a northern candidate.

With this complain, all members of the PDP from the south agreed and zoned the presidential ticket to the north.

Moreover, during the PDP’s presidential primary held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on October 6-7, 2018, Atiku pulled 1, 532 votes to defeat his closest rival, Aminu Tambuwal who garnered 693 votes.

Again, the Peoples Democratic Party lost the presidential election to then incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

Though, the PDP had lost the presidential election for a second time, the party was able to maintain a degree of peace and coherence until the party’s primary in 2022.

Before the presidential primary was held, Chief Uche Secondus, the Chairman of PDP who is from the south had step down for Senator Iyorchia Ayu, who hails from the North Central region.  According to the PDP’s Constitution both the chairman of the party and the presidential candidate can’t come the same part of the country.

Thus, since the Iyorchia Ayu who hails from the northern part of the country was the chairman of the party, it was expected the presidential candidate would come from the southern part of the country.

Meanwhile, as the presidential primary drew close, Atiku Abubakar insisted that the presidential primary be opened to all members of the party.  Nevertheless, he was reminded that it was the turn of the south to produce the presidential candidate since the party zoned it to the north in 2019 and that no southerner contested the presidential primary that year.

As a result of his over ambition, Atiku never accepted to zone the PDP’s presidential primary to the south as it was zoned to the north in 2019 as he was determined to contest for the presidential primary for the third time.

Atiku had the confidence that he could win the PDP’s presidential primary any time, any day, because he is a moneybag and could afford to buy the party’s delegates during the primary.

So, in the PDP’s presidential primary held on May 28-29, 2022 in the Abuja National Stadium, Atiku Abubakar got 371 votes to defeat his closest opponent, Nyesom Wike who scored 237 votes and former Senate President, Bukola Saraki who pulled 70 votes to come third position in the primary.

Indeed, Atiku Abubakar was consistent in snatching the party’s presidential ticket having done so for three consecutive times – making the PDP look like his personal property.

With Atiku clinching the presidential ticket for the third time, chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, and chairman Board of Trustee of the party, Walid Jibrin all from the north, members of the party from the south requested that the chairman of the party be reverted to the south for the sake of equity but Atiku Abubakar refused to oblige the request.

Owing to the intractable problem in the PDP, five governors formed the G-5 or Integrity Group and vowed to work against Atiku Abubakar’s election. Another case of five governors just like it happened in 2013 –the mystery of five governors.

The five governors were Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Mkinde (Oyo), Samue Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu).

These five governors demanded the resignation of the national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu to give way for a southern chairman but Ayu was not interested in relinquishing his seat.

So, members of the PDP went into the 2023 presidential with disagreement, acrimony and hatred as these five governors opposed the campaigns of Atiku vigorously which indeed had negative effects on his performance during the elections.

Again, as the bells of the 2027 presidential election began to ring slowly in 2025, Atiku Abubakar had positioned himself once more to grab the PDP’s presidential ticket. This didn’t go down well with the likes of Nyesom Wike and his followers.

This has led to the fractionalization of PDP into what is now known as the Wike led faction and Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN) led faction.  Fearing that he might not be able to secure the presidential ticket of the party for the fourth time, Atiku quietly resigned from the party on July 14, 2025, citing “Irreconcilable differences.” He later joined the African Democratic Congress.

With numerous litigations and counter-litigations in different layers of courts, members of the party are defecting from the party in their numbers. PDP that once had 23 governors now have only two sitting governors! This is nonetheless ridiculous.

Now, the Peoples Democratic Party that held the reins of power for 16 unbroken years and even boasted to lead the country for 60 years, has become a shadow of itself, gasping for breath, and struggling for survival, all because of the selfish ambition of one man, Atiku Abubakar.